GAZA — Thousands of Palestinians gathered on Saturday at rallying points near the Israeli border fence for a mass demonstration to commemorate a year of weekly protests in the Gaza Strip against the Israeli-Egyptian blockade.

Hours before the rally began, the Gaza Health Ministry said a Palestinian man, Mohammed Saad, 21, had been shot and killed by Israeli forces at a protest camp near the perimeter fence.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

The Palestinians’ rally was to cap a year of demonstrations against the blockade imposed after Hamas took control of the territory in 2007.

Dozens of volunteers in fluorescent vests were deployed to restrain demonstrators from getting too close to the border fence. </s> It is one year since tens of thousands of Palestinians took part in a Great March of Return to the Gaza-Israel border launching regular mass protests along the border that have drawn a deadly response from the Israeli army

A Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire on the Gaza border early Saturday, the territory's health ministry said, hours ahead of planned mass protests.

The ministry said Mohammed Saad, 20, died after being hit in the head with shrapnel caused by Israeli army fire east of Gaza City.

Protesters at the site said he had been taking part in an overnight rally ahead of the main demonstration scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

They said he was more than 100 metres (yards) from the heavily-fortified border fence when he was hit and had been on crutches due to a previous injury.

Thousands are expected to demonstrate on Saturday afternoon at various points along the Gaza-Israel border, one year after the start of regular mass protests demanding the right of return for Palestinian refugees to homes now in Israel.

At least 259 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the protests began, the vast majority along the border.

Two Israeli soldiers have also been killed. </s> Update 2.36pm: Two Palestinians have been killed after Israeli troops opened fire on protesters across the border fence, health officials said.

The shootings came as thousands of Palestinians joined the fourth weekly protest on Gaza's border with Israel on Friday, with some burning tyres or flying kites which carried flaming rags.

Huge black plumes of smoke from the blazing tyres engulfed the area, as Israeli troops fired tear gas and live bullets, witnesses said.

Gaza's health ministry said 40 protesters were injured, but did not say how many of those were wounded by gunfire or overcome by tear gas.

The protests are part of what organisers, led by Gaza's ruling Hamas group, have billed as an escalating showdown with Israel, to culminate in a mass march on May 15. Organisers have made conflicting statements about whether they plan an eventual mass border breach.

In the past three weeks, 28 Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded by Israeli troops firing from across the border fence.

In addition, two Palestinian men, aged 24 and 25, were shot and killed in a border area in northern Gaza, the health ministry said. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Hamas said the protests are aimed at breaking a crippling border blockade that was imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant group overran Gaza in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliamentary elections.

The Israeli military has said it is defending Israel's border and that its troops, including snipers, only target "instigators". It has also accused Hamas of using mass protests as a cover for attacks.

Earlier: Palestinian man dies after being shot by Israeli soldier

A 25-year-old Palestinian man has died after being critically wounded by Israeli army fire near Gaza's border with Israel.

The Gaza health ministry said the man had been shot in the head.

It did not provide details about the circumstances of today's shooting, which came as Palestinians were gathering for a fourth weekly mass protest on the border.

The Israeli military said it is looking into the incident.

Before Friday, 28 Palestinian protesters had been killed and hundreds wounded by Israeli army fire from across the border fence since the protests began in late March. </s> The Gaza Health Ministry says one Palestinian was killed and 49 were injured Friday when members of the Israeli army fired on protesters near the border fence with Israel and the Gazan city of Khan Younis.

 

 In a statement Friday, the Israeli Defense Forces said about 5,000 Palestinians took part in the protests, most of which it said were peaceful. IDF said it only targets protesters who threaten the border.

Protests at the border have been taking place for weeks over the decade-long blockade of the Palestinian territory, where many families live in poverty. The IDF said some of the protesters have been burning tires, hurling rocks or homemade explosives, or even flying kites with burning rags attached over the border with Israel.

 

 Israeli forces have responded with tear gas and gunshots.

The protests come before Monday's opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, and Tuesday's 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

 

 The Palestinians have nicknamed Israel's founding "an-Nakba," or "catastrophe," because it led to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians being forced from their homes in what had been the state of Palestine. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Tense scenes unfold at the Gaza-Israel border fence area

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have demonstrated in Gaza to mark the anniversary of the start of weekly protests on the boundary with Israel.

Demonstrators threw stones and burned tyres, with Israeli troops using tear-gas and live rounds in response.

Three protesters died in the clashes, Palestinian officials say, with another killed earlier on Saturday.

The protests back the declared right of Palestinian refugees to return to ancestral homes in what is now Israel.

At least 189 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed between March and December 2018, the UN says.

A UN inquiry says Israeli soldiers may have committed war crimes during the protest marches - a charge Israel rejects.

This day of protests is a serious test of the fragile calm between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip, says the BBC's Yolande Knell in Jerusalem.

What has happened so far?

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) estimated the number of protesters at about 40,000 and several thousand Israeli troops were deployed along the border.

The IDF said explosive devices had been thrown over the border fence and Israeli forces had responded with "riot dispersal means" and live bullets.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The protests come after a tense week in Gaza

Three Palestinian protesters, all teenage boys, have been killed and more than 300 have been wounded, Palestinian health officials say.

The health officials say another man was shot dead by Israeli troops close to the fence overnight.

Hamas had said it would try to keep the crowds a safe distance from the fence, with Egyptian and UN mediators trying to prevent further escalation.

The clashes were limited in scope and fears of a large number of deaths have not materialised. The protests quietened in the evening.

They came after a tense week in which Palestinian militants fired rockets at Israel and Israel's air force struck dozens of sites in Gaza.

But Palestinian sources say Egyptian mediators have made some progress in reaching a new ceasefire agreement between the Palestinians and Israel.

What happened during earlier protests?

Palestinians have been taking part in protests along the border since 30 March 2018 as part of a campaign dubbed "the Great March of Return".

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Palestinian health officials say thousands of protesters have been hit by live rounds

The Israeli government designates Hamas a terrorist group which it says has been seeking to use the protests as a cover to cross into its territory and carry out attacks.

It deployed soldiers along the border fence, who it said were ordered to resort to live fire only when absolutely necessary and when there was an imminent threat.

A commission of inquiry was set up by the UN Human Rights Council.

Thirty-five of the 189 Palestinian fatalities were children, three were clearly marked paramedics and two were clearly marked journalists, the commission found.

The inquiry found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers had shot at children, medics and journalists, even though they were clearly recognisable as such.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Paul Adams on the issues at the root of the conflict in Gaza

Four Israeli soldiers were injured at the demonstrations. One Israeli soldier was killed on a protest day but outside the protest sites, the commission said.

Unless undertaken lawfully in self-defence, intentionally shooting a civilian not directly participating in hostilities is a war crime.

Israel's acting foreign minister said it rejected the findings outright.

"The Human Rights Council's Theatre of the Absurd has once again produced a report that is hostile, mendacious and biased against Israel," Israel Katz said.

"No-one can deny Israel the right to self-defence and the obligation to protect its citizens and its borders against violent attacks." </s> Palestinian mourners carry the body of nurse Razan al-Najar, 21, during her funeral in Khan Younis on Saturday. The young Palestinian nurse was shot dead on Friday by Israeli soldiers during clashes near the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo by Haitham Imad/EPA

June 2 (UPI) -- Funeral of a 21-year-old medic shot and killed as she was trying to give aid to a protester drew thousands of Palestinians on Saturday.

Medical workers dressed in white uniforms were part of the funeral procession for Razan al-Najjar, who witnesses say was shot by Israeli soldiers near the border fence Friday.

Witnesses said Razan was killed while trying to evacuate a wounded protester lying on the Israeli side of the fence after cutting a hole to get through.

She was wearing her medic's vest as she approached the fence with both of her arms raised to show Israeli soldiers she posed no threat but was shot in the chest, according to the witnesses.

The protests, dubbed the Great March of Return, began as a six-week campaign organized by Palestinians to rally on Fridays near the Gaza-Israel border to demand Palestinian refugees to be allowed to return to what is now Israel.

Since the conflict began in March, more than 120 Palestinians have been killed at the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials say they have a right to defend the border during Palestinian protests at the fence.

The Israeli military on Saturday said that it would investigate the death but said its troops worked "in accordance with standard operating procedures."

"The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) constantly works to draw operational lessons and reduce the number of casualties in the area of the Gaza Strip security fence," according to a statement. "Unfortunately, the Hamas terror organization deliberately and methodically places civilians in danger."

On Friday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley vetoed a resolution that would have offered "international protection" for Palestinian civilians.

Kuwait introduced the resolution to the U.N. Security Council as a response to recent violent escalations between Palestinians and Israeli security forces on the Gaza Strip. </s> A Palestinian protester was killed and 49 were wounded by Israeli army fire during demonstrations on the Gaza-Israel border, the Gaza Health Ministry has said.

The death brings to 41 the number of protesters killed since weekly border rallies began in late March. More than 1,700 protesters have been wounded by army fire during that period.

The ministry identified the protester killed on Friday as a 40-year-old man who was shot in the chest east of the southern town of Khan Younis.

It said seven of the 49 protesters hit by Israeli fire were in a serious condition and that dozens of others were overcome by tear gas inhalation.

The protest came just three days ahead of what the leader of Gaza’s ruling Hamas group has said will be a march by tens of thousands who could burst through the border fence into Israel. </s> GAZA, April 5 (Reuters) - Israeli fire killed a Palestinian at the Gaza border on Thursday and another died of wounds suffered several days ago, health officials said, bringing the number of Palestinian dead in a week of frontier protests and violence to 19.

The Israeli military said one of its aircraft targeted an armed militant near the security fence along the Gaza Strip.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians began a six-week-long protest last Friday in tent encampments along the fenced border of the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, an enclave of two million ruled by the militant Hamas Islamist group.

The demonstrators are pressing for a right of return for refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel. </s> Israeli fire killed a Palestinian at the Gaza border on Thursday and another died of wounds suffered several days ago, health officials said, bringing the number of Palestinian dead in a week of frontier protests and violence to 19.

The Israeli military said one of its aircraft targeted an armed militant near the security fence along the Gaza Strip.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians began a six-week-long protest last Friday in tent encampments along the fenced border of the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, an enclave of two million ruled by the militant Hamas Islamist group.

The demonstrators are pressing for a right of return for refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel.
On the one year anniversary of the Gaza border protests, tens of thousands of Palestinians gather on the border to commemorate the weekly gatherings. Four Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 300 wounded according to Palestinian health officials.