Hundreds of Palestinian on Saturday attended the funeral of a Palestinian journalist who was killed while covering mass protests along the Israel-Gaza Strip border the previous day.
Yasser Murtaja, 30, a cameraman for Palestinian Ain Media, was one of the Some 20,000 Palestinians who participated in a second Hamas-backed demonstration on the border Friday.
The military said the protest became violent almost immediately, with hundreds of Palestinians torching tires and throwing stones, grenades and firebombs at the Israeli troops, and some trying to use the thick smoke to breach the security fence.
The IDF used water cannons and huge fans to disperse the smoke, as well as crowd control measures, including tear gas, rubber bullets and in some cases, live fire, to prevent protesters from breaching the border.
Nine Palestinians were killed, including one minor, and over 1,000 were wounded in the border riots, the Palestinian said.
Witnesses described the area in which Murtaja and others were shot as a chaotic scene in which protesters torched large piles of tires, engulfing the area in black smoke that was meant to shield them from Israeli snipers. Footage showed that visibility was limited and the faces of some of the activists were covered with black soot.
They added that Murtaja was over 100 meters (330 feet) from the border, wearing a flak jacket marked "press" and holding his camera when he was shot in an exposed area just below the armpit. He was rushed to Shifa hospital in Gaza where he died of his wounds several hours later.
The military released a statement saying, "The IDF does not intentionally target journalists. The circumstances in which journalists were allegedly hit by IDF fire are not familiar to the military and are being investigated."
Murtaja, the co-founder of Ain media, had in the past done projects that included aerial drone videos for foreign media outlets such as the BBC and Al Jazeera English.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Saturday that the riots on the border were "a terrorist parade in which Hamas operatives disguised as civilians attempted to harm Israeli citizens. This man – a cameraman or not – if you send drones to fly over Israeli troops you are placing yourself in danger.
"We have seen dozens of cases in which Hamas used vehicles disguised as Red Crescent ambulances. They [Hamas operatives] also disguised themselves as journalists. We will not take any chances," he said.
The Palestinian Journalists Association said it will pursue legal action against the IDF over Murtaja's death.
The group has appealed to the U.N. for international protection for Palestinian reporters, saying, "The Israeli occupation executes Palestinian journalists, and the international community must act to stop the massacre perpetrated by Israel."
The Union of Journalists in Israel has called on IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot to order an investigation into Murtaja's death and reports that Israeli troops opened fire on other journalists as well.
"In a democratic state, the military is not supposed to harm journalists doing their job. We want to know whether the special treatment that should be afforded to members of the media is included in briefings ahead of such operations and whether the soldiers who participated in the operation yesterday [Friday] were briefed on the proper treatment of journalists," the organization said.
A statement by the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said, "The IDF is operating to counter the Hamas terror organization that is trying to turn the Gaza border area into an underground and aboveground battlefield, where Israeli communities and citizen are located just a few hundred meters away from the border fence.
"The IDF's mission is to protect these communities and prevent infiltration into Israeli territory. For weeks now, the IDF has warned [Palestinians] against approaching the fence and calling on the residents of Gaza to defy the Hamas terrorist organization and refrain from violent and terrorist acts against Israel.
"Still, since last Friday [March 30], the IDF has had to deal with tens of thousands of people who approached the fence, led by Hamas," the statement continued. "IDF forces are dealing with shooting attacks, the placing of explosives on the fence and the hurling of grenades and firebombs at them, as well as with thick smoke meant to prevent their operations. In response, IDF troops follow clear instructions meant to counter the current situation."
Murtaja's colleagues said he was not affiliated with Hamas or any other terrorist group. While his funeral was devoid of Hamas symbols usually seen at terrorists' funerals, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh attended the funeral.
"The March of Return is a battle of truth and awareness. Yasser held his camera to direct the arrows of truth to convey the image of the besieged people of Gaza," Haniyeh said.
At the funeral, Murtaja's body was draped in a Palestinian flag with his flak jacket reading "press" placed upon him as he was carried through the streets of Gaza. The drone he had used for shooting footage of Gaza hovered above to film his funeral.
