Israeli troops fired live rounds and tear gas as thousands of Palestinians protested near the Gaza border fence Friday. At least four demonstrators were killed, including a teenage boy, and more than 600 were wounded, Gaza health officials said.
More than 100 of the wounded, including a photographer for French news agency Agence France-Presse, were hit by live fire, the officials said.
The demonstrators burned tires, threw stones and launched flaming kites in the latest in a series of mass protests against the decade-long blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt.
Israel says Gaza's Hamas leaders are using the protests as a cover to carry out attacks against Israelis. Israel and Egypt say they must maintain the blockade on Gaza to contain Hamas and other terrorist groups, which have built up weapons arsenals over the years, including short-range rockets.
Hamas, which seeks Israel's destruction, and Israel have fought three cross-border wars since 2008.
Israel said Friday that Gaza terrorists opened fire at an Israeli military post. No injuries were reported.
Since the near-weekly protests began in Gaza on March 30, more than 120 Palestinians have been killed and over 3,800 have been wounded.
Among those killed Friday was 15-year-old Haitham al-Jamal, whose family said he was shot while taking part in a protest in Rafah, in southern Gaza.
AFP said photographer Mohammed Abed al-Baba was wounded at a mass rally after Israeli forces opened fire. The agency said al-Baba was wearing a press vest and helmet and was trying to take a photo of a wounded protester about 200 yards from the border when he was shot below the knee. The photographer's injury was not life-threatening but required surgery.
The IDF had no comment on the incident.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon posted on Twitter describing the Gaza protesters as "hateful morons" and "Hamas Jugend," a play on the German "Hitler Youth."
After Muslim prayers at noon Friday, thousands of Gazans streamed toward five protest tent camps set up more than two months ago several hundred yards from the border fence.
From there, smaller groups walked toward the border. One man with a bullhorn shouted, "America is the biggest evil."
At one point, seven protesters wearing striped shirts resembling World War II concentration camp uniforms approached the fence.
"We want to remind the world that the Israeli occupation is committing the same massacres that the Nazis committed," said activist Ahmed Abu Artima.
The attempt to draw a parallel between Gaza's suffering and the Holocaust drew angry reactions.
The Israel Defense Forces issued a statement saying the protesters had launched dozens of incendiary kites and balloons with explosives toward Israel. It also said a number of "explosive devices and a grenade" were hurled during the protests.
"At the expense of the people of Gaza, the Hamas terrorist organization continues using terror in order to damage security infrastructure and harm security forces," the statement said. It also said troops had been reinforced along the border.
The IDF escorted journalists to a sniper position on the fence along Gaza's northeast border.
Crowds of several dozen Palestinians could be seen approaching the fence constantly, as soldiers fired tear gas to scatter them. Some Palestinians were seen launching kites rigged with incendiary devices, which were intercepted by small military drones. Snipers, perched about 50 yards from the fence and protected by sandbags and concrete barriers, frequently fired warning shots into the air.
Protester Fadi Saleh, a student of Arabic literature who wore a medical mask to protect himself from the tear gas, said the marches have helped revive sympathies in the Arab world for the Palestinians, but that more could be done.
"We need real Arab support and solidarity with our cause," Saleh said.
Israel's use of potentially lethal force against the protesters has drawn international criticism. Rights groups have said Israel's open-fire rules are unlawful.
The protests have largely been organized by Hamas and to some extent by the smaller Islamic Jihad terrorist group. Both have received political and financial support from Iran, but they also pursue their own agendas.
Friday's Gaza demonstrations coincided with Iran's "Quds [Jerusalem] Day," which protests Israeli rule over the holy city. Israel and Iran have been archenemies since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.
In the Iranian and Iraqi capitals, thousands of Shiite Muslims marked the with protests, some chanting "Death to Israel" and "Death to America," and burning Israeli flags and effigies of U.S. President Donald Trump.
