By Ali Semerci and Safiye Karabacak
GAZA CITY/RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA): Israeli forces directly fired on Palestinians Friday as they marched in a peaceful demonstration demanding the right of return for refugees, killing 17, injuring 1,416. The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, called for “an independent and transparent investigation” into killings of Palestinians by Israeli troops.
Troops used live ammunition to shoot Palestinians dead as they amassed along Gaza’s eastern border with Israel, Ayman as-Sahbani, head of the emergency ward at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Medical Complex, told Anadolu Agency.
Al-Sahbani said some of the severely wounded who had been brought to the hospital had been shot in the head and chest.
1416 Palestinians have been wounded. 758 were shot by live ammunition, 148 injured by rubber-coated steel bullets. The others were injured by tear gas, concussion grenades and other so-called ‘non-lethal’ weapons.
More than 200 Palestinians with injuries to their feet from bullets had been brought to the hospital since Friday morning, he added.
Al-Sahbani said operating rooms at the hospital were full of wounded people waiting in line and the number of injured exceeded the capacity of health centers in Gaza.
He called on aid organizations to help the health ministry with intensive care and surgery rooms and medical supplies to treat the wounded.
The Palestine Red Crescent said 118 people had been injured in the cities of Ramallah, Nablus, Qalqilya and Jericho, including one from a live bullet, 17 from plastic bullets and scores from tear gas.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians in the blockaded Gaza Strip converged on the border Friday to reaffirm their right to return to their homes in historical Palestine.
Friday’s mass demonstrations were also intended to pressure Israel to lift its more than decade-long blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
In Ramallah, in central West Bank, the soldiers injured dozens of nonviolent Palestinian protesters, at the northern entrance of al-Biereh city.
The soldiers also attacked dozens of nonviolent protesters on Budrus, west of Ramallah, wounding many Palestinians.
Also in Ramallah, the soldiers shot three Palestinians with live fire, and caused dozens to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation, after the army resorted to the excessive use of force against nonviolent protesters in Nabi Saleh village, north of the city.
Two Palestinians were also shot with live fire, after the army attacked protesters on their lands, near the illegal Halamish Israeli colony, which was built of lands owned by villagers of Deir Nitham, west of Ramallah.
In Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah, the soldiers attacked dozens of protesters, and fired dozens of gas bombs at them.
In Bil’in village, west of Ramallah, dozens of Palestinians, accompanied by Israel and international peace activists, held the weekly procession against the Annexation Wall and Colonies, and protesting the ongoing occupation, and the illegal American recognition of occupied Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel.
In addition, the soldiers attacked nonviolent protesters in Qusra village, southeast of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, while they marched carrying olive branches to plant them in their lands.
The soldiers also attacked nonviolent protesters in Hebron and abducted at least two Palestinians.
In addition, the soldiers shot a Palestinian child with live fire in his leg, after the army invaded the al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Today, marks the 42nd Anniversary of the Palestinian Land Day, when Israel illegally annexed 21000 Dunams of Palestinian lands, and issued “Absentee Property Law” which allowed it to confiscate the lands of displaced Palestinians.
The army invaded many villages and towns and killed six Palestinians on that day (March 30, 1976) in various parts of occupied historic Palestine, and the Palestinians started marking it since then, expressing their determination and steadfastness in their struggle for liberation.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared Saturday a national day of mourning in response to the killing of the nonviolent protesters.
Dr. Ashraf Al-Qedra, the spokesperson of the Health Ministry in Gaza said following 13 out of 17 slain Palestinians have been identified:
- Wahid Nasrallah Abu Sammour, 27, Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
- Mohammad Kamal Najjar, 25, Jabalia, northern Gaza.
- Mohammad Naim Abu Amro, 27, Sheja’eyya, Gaza city.
- Amin Mansour Abu Moammar, Rafah, southern Gaza.
- Ibrahim Abu Sha’ar, 22, Rafah.
- Abdul-Fattah Bahjat Abdul-Nabi, 18, Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.
- Mahmoud Sa’adi Rohmi, 33, Gaza.
- Sari Waleed Abu Odah, Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza.
- Hamdan Ismael Abu Amsha.
- Jihad Ahmad Freina, 34, east of Gaza city.
- Ahmad Ibrahim Ashour Odah, 16, northern Gaza.
- Abdul-Qader Merdhi al-Hawajri, 42, Nusseirat refugee camp, central Gaza.
- Jihad Zoheir Abu Jamous, 30, Khan Younis
Additional report by imemc.org
[Photo: Ahmad Ibrahim Ashour Odah, 16, killed by Israeli soldiers near electrical border in northern Gaza on 30 March 2018]
