2018–2019 Gaza border protests: Difference between revisions

On 30 March 2018, the Palestinian Land Day, at least 17 Palestinians were killed, many of whom affiliates of Hamas, in clashes along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel. An estimated 1,416 civilians were injured, from live fire, rubber bullets or tear-gas intoxication.

30,000 people attended the events in several different locations along the Gaza-Israeli border, during which tires were burnt and molotov cocktails and stones were thrown in the direction of the border. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), two militants armed with AK-47 and hand grenades were killed while trying to breach the fence.

Background

Land Day is an annual day of commemoration for Palestinians worldwide of events that unfolded on 30 March 1976. In response to the Israeli government's planned expropriation of Arab-owned land in northern Israel, local Arab leaders called for a day of general strikes and protests against the confiscation of lands. In the ensuing strikes, six Israeli-Arabs were killed by Israeli security forces and about 100 others were wounded.

In 2011, Ahmed Abu Ratima, a Gazan whose family originally came from Ramla, conceived the idea of mustering people to go peacefully to the separation barrier and call out for their right to return to the homes from which they had been driven, or had fled, in the past. This idea did not take root until 2018, when an event called the Great March of Return was prepared, which would consist in a 6 week period of regular pacific sit-ins, the start coinciding with the annual Land Day commemoration on, March 30, and continuing down tol May 15, which marks two simultaneous events in 1948, the anniversary of Israel ‘s declaration of independence, and the Nakba Day, the anniversary of the ‘catastrophic’ loss of their land, and exile. In 2018, Gazan journalist Muthana al-Najjar, originally from Salamah, took up the in initiative by pitching a tent near the border where he stayed there for over a month, while others also began planting olive tree seedlings in the area.

The organizers of the event, including the local government authority Hamas and various Palestinian factions had encouraged thousands of Palestinians to converge on the Israeli border for the 42nd anniversary, in what was dubbed the “March of Return.”

In the week prior to the 30th of March, the IDF arrested a suspect who crossed into Israeli territory from northern Gaza, two Palestinians were spotted near the old Karni crossing trying to set fire to army engineering equipment close to the security fence, a group of four Palestinians infiltrated Israel near kibbutz Kissufim and attempted to set engineering equipment alight, and 3 Gazans armed with grenades and knives crossed the border and were captured some 20 kilometers from the border near Tze'elim. On the 25th of March the IDF fired some 10 Iron dome interceptor rockets in response to what the IDF said was high trajectory machine-gun fired from Gaza towards Zikim.

Protests

The events of the day were some of the most violent in recent years. According to The New York Times, prior to the protests the Israeli government began a campaign to hold Hamas responsible for any violence during the protests. To preempt incidents along the border, Israeli nearly doubled their forces stationed along there, deploying special units, drones, and 100 snipers with permission to open fire. The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that before the main series of clashes, Israeli artillery fire killed a Palestinian farmer working near the border zone.

Five tent camps were set up close to the Israel–Gaza barrier's no-go zone. According to the Israeli military, up to 30,000 people, were bused in by the Gazan government to the site of the protest; entire families—‌men, women and children—‌particated in the marches. The majority of the demonstrators in the encampments were away from the border security and did not engage in violence. Hundreds of young Palestinians, however, ignored warnings issued by the organizers and the Israeli military to avoid the border zone. When some demonstrators began throwing stones and molotov cocktails, Israel responded by declaring Gaza a closed military zone and opening fire on protesters.

At day's end, Gaza's hospitals, chronically strained with shortages of everything, struggled to cope with the large influx of casualties. At Al-Shifa Hospital alone, a spokesman stated that of 284 injured people admitted for treatment, most were suffering from live bullet wounds, and 70 were under 18 years of age, while 11 were women.

Impact

A total of 17 people have been reported dead across all clashes, many of whom reported by IDF to have been members of Hamas. Over 1,400 suffered injuries according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, with 758 (773) reportedly wounded from live fire, 148 from rubber-tipped bullets, 422 from inhaling tear gas and 88 from other causes.

Dead reported by IDF to be Hamas affiliates

• Mohammed Naeem Abu Amr (Mohammed Abu Omar, 22 Rafah), according to the IDF Hamas military operative involved in tunneling.
• Ahmed Ibrahim Ashour Odeh (19), according to the IDF member Hamas's military wing.
• Jihad Ahmed Fraina (33), according to the IDF from Sheikh Radwan company commander in Hamas's military wing.
• Mahmoud Saadi Rahmi (33), according to the IDF from Shuja'iyya, and a Hamas operative.
• Abd al-Fattah Bahjat Abd al-Nabi (18) reportedly shot in the back while running away from the border. according to the IDF member of Hamas's military wing, video footage of his shooting "edited and fabricated" according to the IDF.
• Ibrahim Salah Abu Shaar (20), according to the IDF a global Jihad activist.
• Sari Walid Abu Odeh, according to the IDF a Hamas operative from Beit Hanoun.
• Hamdan Isma'il Abu Amsha, according to the IDF from Beit Hanoun, aged 28, and a member of Hamas's military wing.

Others

• Jihad Zuhair Abu Jamous, according to the IDF a member of al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.
• Naji Abu Hijir
• Mohammad Kamel Najjar (shot in the stomach near Jabaliya)
• Wahid Nasrallah Abu Samour
• Amin Mahmoud Abu Muammar (38 Rafah)
• Abd al-Qader Marhi al-Hawajri
• Bader Fayek al-Sabbagh (20) According to Palestinians reportedly shot in the head while smoking a cigarette with his brother behind a group throwing rocks.
• Omar Samour (31) -- According to Palestinians the farmer who was killed around dawn,
• Faris al-Raqid (29), member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad

According to an IDF tweet on the following day, later deleted:

'Nothing was carried out uncontrolled; everything was accurate and measured, and we know where every bullet landed.'

The respective states of a further two who had been shot, Muhammed Mhareb al-Arabiyeh and Musab Zuheir Anis al-Saloul (whose according to Hamas site is member of military wing), were unknown. According to Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, their bodies were left lying on the ground in buffer zone established by Israel, at the Jahr Al-Dik area inside Wadi Gaza, at a distance of 150 metres from the border, and could not be checked and evacuated due to their proximity to no-go zone where Israel declared, anyone detected would be at risk of being shot. Israeli forces recovered the bodies, and said the two were gunmen armed with AK-47 assaults rifles and hand grenades who had attempted to breach the fence.

According to the IDF, at least eight members of Hamas were among the dead, as well as one from the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and one from a Salafist group. The Israeli military accused Hamas of using the protests as a guise to launch attacks against Israel, and warned about further reprisals. According to Hamas, five members of its military wing were among the dead. The Palestinian Red Crescent has also estimated that around 800 people were injured by live fire, while the Israeli military says only a few dozen or so were.

Called on by Kuwaiti ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi, the United Nations Security Council initiated an emergency meeting following the violence on 30 March. A Security Council statement for an independent inquiry surrounding the events was blocked by the United States, and rejected by Israel's Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who stated that the soldiers' actions were necessary to secure the border. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres observed that the situation "underlines the urgency of revitalizing the peace process aiming at creating the conditions for a return to meaningful negotiations".