Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian protesters and wounded at least 150 along the Israel-Gaza border on Friday, Gaza medical officials said, raising the death toll to 22 in the week-long disturbances. They said the men were killed at protest sites east of Gaza City and Khan Younis during a round of daily demonstrations that began on March 30 and are known as "The Great March of Return". The protesters, including Palestinian refugees and their descendants seeking to regain homes in what is now Israel that were lost during the 1948-49 war, have set up tent encampments a few hundred metres (yards) inside Gaza. Large groups of youths have ventured much closer to the no-go zone along the border, risking live fire from Israeli troops to roll burning tyres at the barrier and throw stones. "Israel took everything from us, the homeland, freedom, our future," said Samer, a 27-year-old protester who would not give his full name, fearing Israeli reprisals. "I have two kids, a boy and a girl, and if I die, God will take care of them." The number of protesters on Friday was larger than in recent days, but lower than the outset of the disturbances on March 30, when 17 Palestinians were fatally shot by Israeli forces. The deaths drew international criticism of Israel's response, which human rights groups said involved live fire against demonstrators posing no immediate threat to life. Israel stationed sharpshooters on its side of the frontier to deter Palestinians from trying to break through the fence. Many of those killed were militants, Israel claimed. An Israeli military spokesman said on Friday that the army "will not allow any breach of the security infrastructure and fence, which protects Israeli civilians". Refugees comprise most of the 2 million population of Israeli-blockaded Gaza, an enclave ruled by the Islamist militant movement Hamas. The demonstrators have revived a longstanding demand for the right of return of Palestinian refugees to towns and villages which their families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created. The Israeli government has ruled out any right of return. BURNING FLAGS Palestinian youths burned Israeli flags and planted Palestinian banners on dirt mounds beside tented encampments as others arrived on large trucks carrying piles of more tyres to burn. Others launched stones with slingshots. With Israeli tear gas rising into the air, Palestinian youths used T-shirts, cheap medical masks and perfume to try and protect themselves. Israel tried to douse the burning rubber with jets of water directed over defensive dirt mounds on its side of the border. A U.N. human rights spokeswoman urged Israel to exercise restraint against the Palestinian protesters. “We are saying that Israel has obligations to ensure that excessive force is not employed. And that if there is unjustified and unlawful recourse to firearms, resulting in death, that may amount to a wilful killing,” Elizabeth Throssell said in Geneva. Israel claims it is doing what it must to defend its border and that its troops have been responding with riot dispersal means and fire "in accordance with the rules of engagement". The United States has supported Israel, its main Middle East ally, and criticised the protest organisers. "We condemn leaders and protesters who call for violence or who send protesters - including children - to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed," President Donald Trump's Middle East peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt, said on Thursday. *This story was edited by Ahram Online.
