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Eight killed, over 1000 injured in new Gaza border protests

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Eight Palestinians were killed and 1,070 others injured on Friday during a daylong of bloody confrontations between hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
One Palestinian had died Friday of wounds he sustained last Friday and seven more were killed during the fresh large clashes that broke out Friday in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel by Israeli snipers, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza

The Israeli army forces used live ammunition, rubber-coated metal gunshots, tear gas and firefighters against hundreds of demonstrators who threw stones at the soldiers close to the fence between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel.
Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators began early Friday to set fire to dozens of used car tires near the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel in a bid to make a shield of black smoke to protect themselves from Israeli soldiers’ gunfire.
The demonstrators said they protest to call for their legitimate rights and fight for a life with dignity as well as to stress the Palestinians’ “right of return”.

On the Israeli side of the border, the Israeli army brought more forces of soldiers, armoured vehicles, drones filled with tear gas canisters, firemen and fire vehicles to prevent smoke from being pushed by the winds into Israel.
Mahmoud al-Zahar, a high-ranking official of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, condemned the Israeli soldiers for opening fire at the peaceful demonstration.

“This is what they (the Israelis) are doing – shooting unarmed demonstrators. What’s the legitimacy of this? Even the animal protection law will not allow this to happen,” said al-Zahar.

The Palestinian Authority Presidency also said in an official statement that it condemns “the action of killing and repression. The Israeli army is committed to confront Palestinians, who are peacefully demonstrating in eastern Gaza.”

However, David Keyes, the spokesman for Israeli prime minister, defended the Israeli response, claiming that Hamas “is not an organization that seeks peace.”

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