GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hundreds of Palestinians converged on the Gaza Strip’s border fence with Israel on Friday, trying to burn and rip through it before drawing heavy Israeli fire in one of the most violent incidents yet in five weeks of protests. Three Palestinians were killed and dozens were reported wounded.
The Israeli military accused Gaza’s Hamas leaders of orchestrating what it called a “serious and irregular” attack and said it would not tolerate similar activity in the future.
The violence came shortly after a top U.N. official urged Israel to refrain from using excessive force against the protesters.
At least 38 protesters have been killed by Israeli live fire and more than 1,600 wounded in the weekly protests since they began March 30. Israel has rejected the international criticism, saying it is defending its sovereign border and accusing Gaza’s Hamas leaders, who are organizing the protests, of using the crowds as cover to carry out attacks.
In Friday’s unrest, a large crowd gathered a few hundred yards from the border, with some throwing stones and setting tires on fire in what has become a weekly occurrence.
Late in the afternoon, dozens of young men broke away from the larger protest, moving south and approaching the fence. The crowd then tried to break through the fence with hooks and wire cutters when Israeli forces opened fire. Witnesses said three protesters briefly crossed into Israel and turned around.
Hundreds of additional protesters ran to the scene, and Israeli armored vehicles sped to the site and fired barrages of tear gas. As gunfire erupted, the crowd dispersed. A dozen Palestinian ambulances jammed a dirt road lining up to evacuate the wounded. Some in the crowd shouted “shahid,” or “martyr” as bodies were taken away on stretchers.
Palestinian health officials reported three people killed and 611 wounded, including 138 hit by live fire in incidents along the border throughout the day.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it had “thwarted” an attempted infiltration by Palestinian protesters and opened fire “in accordance with the rules of engagement” to halt the crowd. It released a video showing a young Palestinian man placing a burning tire along the fence in an apparent attempt to set it on fire.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said the event was unlike anything Israel has seen over the past month. He said an estimated 500 to 700 protesters carried out a “deliberate attack” on the fence, throwing firebombs and explosives, trying to set it on fire with burning tires and attempting to tear it down with a metal hook and winch system.
He said the incident was notable in the number of protesters, the speed they moved and the “audacity with which they attacked.” He claimed Hamas leaders had been in the area encouraging the crowd.
“We saw a totally irregular event and severe attack, which was clearly orchestrated by Hamas leaders on the ground who were urging the rioters on, and to run toward the fence, to assault the fence,” he said. He said Israel would not tolerate Hamas attempts “to use civilians as human shields and as a disguise for terrorists trying to infiltrate into Israel.”
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.
Gaza organizers say the marches are also pressing for the “right of return” of refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel. Two-thirds of Gaza residents are descendants of refugees who fled or were expelled from properties during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948. The protests are to culminate on May 15, the anniversary of Israel’s creation.
