April 14, 2018
By Jack Khoury
The Palestinian Health Ministry (click here) reported on Saturday that at least four Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army is investigating the possibility that the shooting incident was a work accident.
According to initial reports, the incident occurred east of Rafah.
The report adds that emergency services are still active on the ground, attending to the wounded.
On Friday, one Palestinian was killed and 233 were wouned by live israeli fire as more than 10,000 protested along the Israel-Gaza border, burning tires and Israeli flags, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
According to the Israeli army, protests were held at five different sites along the border.
The Health Ministry in Gaza identified the Palestinian killed in the protest as Asalam Saudi Hasralla, 28. Overall, 969 Palestinians were wounded in Friday's protest, with 233 wounded by live fire and 419 evacuated to the hospital. Of those wounded, 20 were women and 67 were under age 18. Thirteen Palestinians were wounded by rubber-tipped bullets. The ministry noted that the number of protesters was lower than last week.
The IDF should have been there to protect the peaceful, unarmed protesters from any extremists, either Palestinian or Israeli, that would do anyone harm. The deaths at the border are outrageous and need to be investigated. Those people were not armed. Representatives from the protest should be meeting with President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Thank you to Mr. Khoury for his diligence and Haartz in fact finding. Facts in any reporting are very important to Israel as well as Palestine. It is my opinion Haartz attempts to bring all facts and opinion to the public. I've never thought of them as biased or one sided. They are not the government. I am fairly confident if representatives from the demonstrators wanted to present their point of view, Haaretz and other western newspapers would welcome their voices.
If the circumstances need anything it is sunshine, facts and strong advocacy for peace and accountability. This was Gaza. It is more isolated than most other places on Earth. This should never happen again. It should not have occurred this time. The border was notified with plenty of time for talks and an understanding. This is a tragedy for a real attempt at recognition by so many young Palestinians.
