JERUSALEM (AP) - The Latest on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (all times local):

Israel's defense minister says a Gaza journalist who was killed by Israeli gunfire over the weekend was a Hamas militant.

Yasser Murtaja was shot Friday while covering a mass demonstration near the Israeli border. He was carrying a video camera and wearing a flak jacket marked with the word "press" when he was shot.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman told reporters on Tuesday that Murtaja had been on the Hamas payroll since 2011 and held a rank similar to captain. He said Murtaja had used a drone to collect intelligence on Israeli forces along the border.

He provided no evidence to support the claim.

Lieberman accused Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, of using the media, as well as ambulances and medical patients, as cover to carry out attacks.

Israel's military says soldiers heard in video footage cheering as a Palestinian is shot during Gaza border clashes will be disciplined.

It said Tuesday an initial probe shows the video was taken in December during "violent riots."

The footage emerged Monday appearing to show a soldier shooting a Palestinian near the Gaza fence as other soldiers are heard cheering when he falls. The military said the man was a main instigator in the clashes and was shot in the leg and wounded.

It said the troops' behavior does not reflect the army's values and they will be dealt with "accordingly," without elaborating.

The Islamic militant group Hamas that rules Gaza is currently leading a campaign of mass protests at the border and 26 Palestinians have been killed since it began two weeks ago. </s> The Latest on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (all times local):

Israel's defense minister says a Gaza journalist who was killed by Israeli gunfire over the weekend was a Hamas militant.

Yasser Murtaja was shot Friday while covering a mass demonstration near the Israeli border. He was carrying a video camera and wearing a flak jacket marked with the word "press" when he was shot.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman told reporters on Tuesday that Murtaja had been on the Hamas payroll since 2011 and held a rank similar to captain. He said Murtaja had used a drone to collect intelligence on Israeli forces along the border.

He provided no evidence to support the claim.

Lieberman accused Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, of using the media, as well as ambulances and medical patients, as cover to carry out attacks.

Israel's military says soldiers heard in video footage cheering as a Palestinian is shot during Gaza border clashes will be disciplined.

It said Tuesday an initial probe shows the video was taken in December during "violent riots."

The footage emerged Monday appearing to show a soldier shooting a Palestinian near the Gaza fence as other soldiers are heard cheering when he falls. The military said the man was a main instigator in the clashes and was shot in the leg and wounded.

It said the troops' behavior does not reflect the army's values and they will be dealt with "accordingly," without elaborating.

The Islamic militant group Hamas that rules Gaza is currently leading a campaign of mass protests at the border and 26 Palestinians have been killed since it began two weeks ago. </s> A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces as he broke through the Gaza security fence on Tuesday, as tensions continued days after at least 16 people were reported killed in a mass border demonstration.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry identified the dead man as 25-year-old Ahmed Arafa, saying he was shot in the chest during clashes east of Bureij in central Gaza. The military wing of the DFLP (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine) terrorist group identified him as a member.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that it used live fire against a group of Palestinians who broke through the security fence during the protest.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

Surveillance camera footage, provided by the army, showed one person smashing the fence with what appears to be a metal pipe. He is joined by four others, two of whom go through a hole in the fence. Then it appears warning shots were fired.

The two men run back into Gaza, and once they are through the fence the video cuts out. It was unclear when Arafa was shot.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, dozens of Palestinians took part in “violent riots in four locations along the Gaza Strip.”

The army said it used mostly less-lethal riot dispersal measures against the demonstrators — tear gas and rubber bullets — but used live rounds against the people who sabotaged the fence.

“The IDF will not allow security infrastructure and the fence, which protects Israeli citizens to be damaged, and we will take action against terrorists who are involved,” the army said in a statement.

“We again warn against approaching the fence,” the IDF added.

On Friday, over 30,000 Palestinians demonstrated along the Gaza border, in what Israel describes as a riot orchestrated by the Hamas terrorist group, which rules Gaza, and what Palestinians say was supposed to be a peaceful protest.

There were discrepancies in Palestinian reports on the Gaza death toll from Friday. While Hamas claimed Monday that 18 had died, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority had the number at 16. Israel has no official death toll figures. Over 1,000 were reported injured.

Violent protests have been staged every day since Friday’s mass demonstration, though on a far smaller level, usually involving a few dozen people. Nevertheless, the army has remained on high alert in the area out of concerns that terror groups could capitalize on the tensions and carry out attacks.

Earlier on Tuesday, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Israel will not be changing its policies toward Palestinians rioting along the Gaza security fence and brushed off criticism that the army used a heavy hand during Friday’s protests.

“We have set clear rules of the game and we do not intend to change them. Anyone who approaches the fence endangers his life, and I would recommend that Gaza residents put their efforts not into protesting against Israel, but into regime change within the Strip,” Liberman said during a tour of Israeli communities just outside the coastal enclave.

“I think the [Israel Defense Forces] operated exceptionally well, as expected, and I have no doubt that we will continue to act in the same way in the days to come,” he added.

Speaking to local leaders and the heads of security for the communities, the defense minister defended the army’s actions. “It needs to be understood that the majority of the people killed were terrorists whom we know well, operatives in the military arm of Hamas, as well as in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. These weren’t innocent civilians who came as part of a civil protest,” Liberman said.

The IDF on Saturday named and detailed 10 of the dead as members of terror groups including Hamas. (Hamas, an Islamist terror group that avowedly seeks to destroy Israel, had earlier acknowledged five of them were its members.) Islamic Jihad later claimed an 11th.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

The defense minister put the blame for Friday’s violence solely on Hamas.

“We didn’t initiate any provocations against the residents of Gaza; we protect our residents,” he said.

Asked what the IDF was anticipating for this upcoming Friday, when Hamas has called for renewed clashes on the border, the defense minister said he “didn’t want to make an assessment. We are prepared for every scenario.”

The United States on Saturday blocked a draft UN Security Council statement urging restraint and calling for an investigation of clashes on the Gaza-Israel border, diplomats said.

The draft council statement also expressed “grave concern at the situation at the border.” And it reaffirmed “the right to peaceful protest” and expressed the council’s “sorrow at the loss of innocent Palestinian lives.”

Council members “called upon all sides to exercise restraint and prevent a further escalation,” the draft said. The proposed statement stressed the need to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians based on a two-state solution.

On Saturday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “those concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties.” He also called for an independent and transparent investigation into the deaths and injuries during Friday’s clashes.

TOI staff contributed to this report. </s> A Palestinian journalist was shot and killed by Israeli forces while covering protests along the Israeli border in Gaza late Friday.

Photos show Yasser Murtaja, 31, wearing a "press" vest as he was evacuated during the clashes after being shot. He died of his injuries shortly afterwards.

The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate report that six journalists, all of whom they say were easily identifiable as press, were shot by Israeli forces firing over the border on Friday, including Murtaja.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces told BuzzFeed News that they were investigating Murtaja's death, but said that journalists were not intentionally targeted. The spokesperson said IDF troops were working to protect the security fence with Israel from Hamas, which they blamed for inciting "tens of thousands" of people to approach and attack the fence, throwing explosives and rocks at soldiers.

"IDF troops are operating in accordance with clear rules of engagement that are tailored to this scenario. The IDF uses means such as warnings, riot dispersal means, and as a last resort firing live rounds in a precise, measured way,” said the spokesperson.

“The IDF does not intentionally target journalists. The circumstances in which journalists were allegedly hit by IDF fire are not familiar to the IDF, and are being looked into," the spokesperson said.

Witnesses told the Associated Press reported Murtaja was shot below the armpit while holding his camera as protesters set fire to tires, resulting in thick black smoke. </s> A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces on the Gaza border Tuesday, the health ministry in the strip said, as tensions remained high days after 17 people were killed when a mass demonstration led to clashes

The ministry identified the dead man as 25-year-old Ahmed Arafa, saying he was shot in the chest during clashes east of Bureij in central Gaza, reported AFP.

Israel’s army said in a statement that “throughout the day, tens of Palestinians participated in violent riots in four main locations along the Gaza border.”

It added that “troops used riot dispersal means, and fired towards suspects who were involved in damaging the security fence.”

It was the first death since at least 17 Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops on Friday when a protest by tens of thousands of people resulted in clashes. That was the deadliest day since the 2014 war between Israel and Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas.

Smaller protests have continued since, with thousands expected to take to the streets again on Friday.

Israel’s use of live fire has come under criticism from rights groups, while the European Union and UN chief Antonio Guterres have called for an independent investigation.

But earlier Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman issued a new warning, saying those who approach the fence between Gaza and Israel will put “their life in danger.”

Israel has defended its soldiers’ actions on Friday, saying they opened fire only when necessary against those throwing stones and firebombs or rolling tyres at soldiers.

It said there were attempts to damage the fence and infiltrate Israel, while alleging there was also an attempted gun attack against soldiers along the border.

Palestinians say protesters were fired on while posing no threat to soldiers.

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday said Friday’s killings were unlawful and “calculated,” also saying the border protests posed no immediate threat to Israeli soldiers. </s> A Palestinian who says he was shot by an Israeli sniper along the Gaza border said Wednesday he was posing no threat to soldiers at the time, after a video of the incident went viral.

The footage filmed from the Israeli side of the border fence, which included rejoicing after the shooting, was shared widely online and by the media earlier this week.

It led to further scrutiny of Israel's open-fire rules along the Gaza border.

Israel's defence minister praised the sniper, but criticised the soldier who filmed the incident.

Israel's military alleged that the soldier opened fire after rioting by Palestinians and warnings from soldiers.

Tamer Abu Daqqa, 28, said he recognised himself in the video, which was filmed on December 22 in southern Gaza, particularly due to the red jacket he was wearing.

AFP could not independently verify Abu Daqqa's claim, but separate footage from that day shows him in hospital after being shot in his leg, which is still in plaster four months after the incident.

Abu Daqqa said he had thrown stones at Israeli soldiers over the border during the day, but denied being armed or posing any threat at the time of the gunshot.

"When they shot me I was not throwing stones. I was yelling to friends near the fence to leave and go back to our homes," he told AFP at his home in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The incident took place during protests along the Gaza border sparked by US President Donald Trump's controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which infuriated Palestinians and led to clashes.

The Palestinians consider the eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

In the footage of the incident, voices can be heard discussing opening fire on Palestinians walking on the other side of the border fence.

A soldier then opens fire on one of the Palestinians, knocking the person to the ground.

"Wow. What a video! Yes! That son of a bitch," one of the voices behind the camera exclaims in Hebrew.

Israel's military on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of the video, but alleged the shooting followed riots and warnings from troops.

It said a single bullet was fired toward the Palestinian "suspected of organising and leading this incident while he was a few metres from the fence," wounding him in the leg.

"In the video they say they killed me," said Abu Daqqa. "The sniper failed. I was only injured."

- 'If they were men' -

The video came at a highly sensitive time for Israel's military, which has faced mounting criticism over its use of live fire along the Gaza Strip border, where 31 Palestinians have been killed since late March as mass protests have led to clashes.

Hundreds of others have been wounded. There have been no Israeli casualties. The European Union, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and others have called for an independent investigation into the deaths, which included a journalist.

Israel has rejected the calls, saying its forces have opened fire to stop attempts to damage the fence, infiltrations, bids to carry out attacks and at those seeking to harm soldiers.

It accuses Hamas, with whom it has fought three wars since 2008, of seeking to use the protests as cover for violence.

The Abu Daqqa video, though it dates from several months earlier, led to fresh questions about Israel's rules of engagement.

The Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem said earlier this week that shooting incidents similar to what is seen in the video have "occurred hundreds of times over the past few weeks in the Gaza Strip, causing death and injuries."

Abu Daqqa said the video showed the Israelis were "terrorists".

"In the video they laugh at me and insult me. If they were men they would face me without weapons as I faced them," he said.

"I will continue to demonstrate for our land and our rights even if they injure me in every part of my body." </s> Four alleged Palestinian terrorists were killed by Israeli forces near the Gaza border fence, the military announced on Saturday.

Israel Defense Forces said the men were armed with grenades and assault rifles and that they had crossed the border from Gaza.

“We just identified a number of terrorists from Gaza approaching Israel, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, RPG grenade launchers & grenades—one of which was thrown,” the force posted on its official Twitter account.

“Once one of the terrorists crossed into Israel, our troops opened fire,” the statement added.

In a second post, the IDF published photographs of guns, ammunition and grenades laid on the ground and said: "These are the weapons possessed by the terrorists who attempted to infiltrate into Israel from Gaza last night."

It added that their objective was "murdering Israelis".

The four dead were Abdulah al-Hamayda, Abdulah al-Ghamri, Abdulah al-Masri and Ahmad al-Odeini, security sources inside the Gaza Strip told Efe.

They were all in their early 20s and members of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, the sources added.

No group has claimed responsibility for the alleged attempt and no official statement has been issued on the matter.

The Israeli military took the bodies of the four Palestinians and confiscated the weapons they were carrying, according to Palestinian sources.

A similar incident that took place 10 days ago left three Israeli soldiers wounded after Hamas militia managed to enter Israel and opened fire at before being shot dead.

The unrest between Gaza and Israel has escalated since Gaza border protests rallies began in March 2018.

Hundreds and sometimes thousands of Palestinians have been taking to the streets every week in front of the fence to call for refugees’ right to return and lifting the blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza since 2007, when Hamas took charge of the Strip.

Since then, many incidents have taken place in the area, which left at least 307 Palestinians dead as they were shot by Israeli forces during protests and incidents. EFE-EPA </s> Share this article with Google Plus

The family of an 18-year-old Palestinian man who died in the Gaza border protests last week say he was unarmed and shot in the back as he ran away from the Israeli military.

As harrowing footage emerged of the moment the teenager was gunned down, his family spoke out to say he was not a member of Islamist militant group Hamas.

Abdel Fattah Abd al-Nabi was shot by an Israeli sniper in the back on Friday.

The video shows him running in no-man’s-land while carrying a tyre.

Metres away from reaching a crowd of people, his body crumples to the ground.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) defended its actions and has called the footage ‘Hamas propaganda’.

The IDF is said to have claimed the video has been edited and does not show al-Nabi’s potentially provocative actions before he was killed.

But the teenager’s family claim he was unarmed.

‘He had no gun, no Molotov, a tyre. Does that harm the Israelis, a tyre?’ his brother, Mohamed al-Nabi, 22, told the Washington Post.

‘He wasn’t going toward the Israeli side. He was running away.’

Officials said another man was killed by Israeli gunfire in Gaza on Tuesday, Palestinian medics said, raising the death toll from clashes along the border to 19.

Israel’s defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, yesterday said that the military will not change its tough response to Hamas-led mass protests near Gaza’s border with Israel, warning that those who approach the border are putting their lives at risk.

The planned six-week intermittent border protests are expected to escalate again this Friday, with many anticpiating more bloodshed.

The Palestinians’ ambassador at the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, appealed to the U.N. Security Council for immediate international protection for Palestinian civilians, especially in Gaza.

He charged in a letter to the council that Israel has adopted ‘a shoot-to-kill policy’ during what he called peaceful protests.

The international group Human Rights Watch accused Lieberman and other senior Israeli officials of unlawfully calling for the use of live fire against Palestinian protesters who posed no imminent threat to life.

Last Friday, thousands of Palestinians marched near the border fence between Israel and Gaza, with families setting up camps several hundred meters from the front line.

Smaller groups moved closer to the fence, throwing stones, hurling firebombs or burning tires.

Israeli troops were lined up on the other side of the fence, including snipers perched on high earth embankments overlooking Gaza.

Palestinian health officials have said 18 Palestinians were killed on that day, making it the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas.

More than 750 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire, according to Gaza health officials, with others claiming the number of wounded was closer to 1,500.

Plans have been circulated on social media to burn large numbers of tires on Friday, in hopes that thick black smoke would block the view of Israeli snipers.

Hamas has said the protests would culminate in a ‘March of Return’ implying the demonstrators would at some point try cross the border fence into Israeli territory. </s> Israel's military on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of a video that shows soldiers celebrate after shooting a protester on the other side of the Gaza border.

A number of Israeli ministers, including defense chief Avigdor Lieberman, defended the soldiers in the video, while the military said the Palestinian had been shot in the leg and wounded. It was not clear whether the victim had died.

Read more: Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman defends use of force against Gaza protests

The military also alleged that the incident took place last December following riots and warnings from troops. "During the riot, means were taken in order to disperse it, including verbal warnings and calls to halt, using riot dispersal means and firing warning shots into the air," the army said in a statement.

In the video, which surfaced on Monday, voices can be heard discussing whether to open fire at a Palestinian standing close to a fence. After the shooter opens fire, knocking the man to the ground, one of the voices says in Hebrew, "Wow. What a video! Yes! That son of a bitch."

The video's release comes at a highly sensitive time for Israel's military, which is under increasing international scrutiny for its use of live fire on the Gaza border. At least 31 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded following the outbreak of protests and clashes at the border since March 30.

Saeb Erekat, a top official with the Palestinian Authority, has described the shootings as "extrajudicial killings."

There have been no critical Israeli casualties.

After the authenticity of the video was confirmed, Lieberman told reporters that the sniper "deserves a medal" for shooting the Palestinian, but that the solider who recorded the incident should be demoted.

The military said the unauthorized filming and distribution of the material would be dealt with accordingly.

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the far-right Jewish Home party also justified the shooter's behavior, telling army radio: "Judging soldiers because they are not expressing themselves elegantly while they are defending our borders is not serious."

Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan downplayed the significance of the video, telling local media that the video "doesn't show gunfire at everyone, but at a terrorist who approaches the barrier in an unauthorized zone coming from an area controlled by Hamas terrorists."

On the Palestinian side, however, senior official Hanan Ashrawi said the video showed what Palestinians have long decried as Israeli soldiers' everyday behavior on the Gaza border, "but nobody has been listening."

For both sides of the conflict, the incident presented a stark reminder of a 2016 video filmed by a human rights group that showed an Israeli soldier shooting a prone Palestinian assailant in the head without any apparent provocation.

The Israeli soldier, Elor Azaria, was convicted of manslaughter but the case highlighted Israel's public divide between those who denounced the killing and those who believed it was justified.

Read more: What it means to be a soldier in Israel

Several right-wing Israeli politicians called for Azaria to be pardoned, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He was eventually released after serving half of an 18-month prison sentence.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.
The Israeli Defence Forces releases footage of a man fatally shot yesterday during an apparent attempt to breach the Gazan border fence. Israel says he was carrying an AK-47 and explosive devices including grenades, and accused Hamas of "playing with fire".