Israel asked to avoid lethal force as Gaza protest resumes

GAZA CITY - Associated Press

Palestinians converged on the Gaza border with Israel for a fifth round of weekly protests on April 27, some throwing stones and burning tires, as a top U.N. official urged Israel to refrain from using excessive force against them.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said Israeli troops have not heeded warnings by the United Nations and others, repeatedly using lethal force against unarmed protesters over the past month.

Since the Gaza marches began, 35 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,500 wounded by Israeli soldiers firing from across the border fence, according to Gaza health officials. Among those killed were four minors, including a 14-year-old boy.

“The loss of life is deplorable, and the staggering number of injuries caused by live ammunition only confirms the sense that excessive force has been used against demonstrators - not once, not twice, but repeatedly,” the commissioner said.

The marches, aimed in part at trying to break a decade-old border blockade, have been organized by Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers but have also been driven by widespread despair in the coastal territory of 2 million people.

Since late March, thousands have demonstrated every Friday in five protest tent camps, each set up several hundred meters (yards) from the border fence. Smaller groups have moved toward the fence, throwing stones, burning tires or hurling firebombs.

Israeli soldiers, including snipers taking cover behind sand berms, have fired tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and live rounds.

On April 27, hundreds of protesters gathered at a tent camp east of Gaza City. Some burned tires and threw stones near the fence. Israeli troops fired intensive volleys of tear gas, some canisters landing 300 meters inside Gaza. A few gunshots were heard. A similar scene played out in another camp in southeastern Gaza.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said 25 people were hurt, but did not give a breakdown by types of injury.

Israel’s military has said troops are under orders to target “instigators,” but has also warned that anyone approaching or trying to damage the fence risks his life.

Israel has accused Hamas of using the protests as cover for attacks on the border, including planting explosives near the fence. Israel says it has the right to defend its border, including nearby communities.

Rights groups have said such open-fire rules are unlawful because they allow soldiers to use potentially lethal force in situations where their lives are not in danger.

The U.N. human rights commissioner said Friday that “it is difficult to see” how throwing stones, burning tires or even hurling firebombs from a distance at heavily protected security forces in defensive positions could be seen as life-threatening.

Israel and Egypt imposed the Gaza blockade in 2007, in response to a violent takeover of the territory by Hamas, which had won Palestinian parliament elections a year earlier. The blockade has gutted Gaza’s economy, driving up unemployment and leaving two-thirds of young people without jobs.

Gaza organizers say that in addition to compelling an end to the blockade, the marches are meant to press for the “right of return” of refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel. Two-thirds of Gaza residents are descendants of refugees.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war over Israel’s creation, and march organizers see May 15, the anniversary of Israel’s founding, as a key target day.

They have made conflicting statements about whether they plan a mass border breach at some point.