EAST OF GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — An overriding desire drives Mohammad Shaladan to ignore the recent deaths of protesters near the fence between Gaza and Israel and venture there Friday: the wish to go “home.”

“I am here to restore my lost rights,” the 60-year-old unemployed former farmer said. “I want to return to Palestine.”

Shaladan is one of tens of thousands of Gaza residents expected to demonstrate Friday for refugees' right of return to the villages and towns their families lived in before the establishment of the State of Israel — a principle Israel rejects.

At least 15 Palestinians were killed and more than 750 wounded by Israeli bullets on the first day of a six-week sit-in that began last Friday, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave. However, Israeli officials have said that dozens, at most, were wounded by live rounds.

Israeli officials have come under intense criticism for what some Western and Israeli rights groups consider a disproportionate reaction to the demonstration. A total of almost 1,500 people suffered injuries during last Friday's rally, according to Palestinian officials.

The Israeli government says troops opened fire against people trying to sabotage the 40-mile fence, which Israel maintains keeps militants away from its citizens.

In Gaza, stacks of tires were being built up so they can be burned to obscure the view of Israeli snipers on Friday.</s>The IDF published a video Thursday afternoon showing the armed terrorist who attempted to infiltrate Israel in the early hours of the day. According to Palestinian forces, which retrieved the terrorist's body, he was carrying a weapon, grenades and an explosive device. No Israelis were hurt in the incident.

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The incident took place early Thursday, when an Israeli fighter jet fired at an armed terrorist near the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

Footage of the terrorist drawing near the fence (צילום: דובר צה"ל)

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Four hours after the IDF announced it had targeted the terrorist, Palestinian rescue services said that a body had been removed from the scene of the attack east of the Zeitoun neighborhood.





The terrorist's infiltration as captured by IDF cameras (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

According to suspicion, the terrorist intended to carry out a shooting attack against IDF soldiers, but after his body was examined by Palestinian authorities, he was found to have been armed with frag grenades and an explosive vest, in addition to an AK-47 rifle.

The army considered the incident another attempt in a series of many similar attempts taking place over the last two weeks to carry out terrorist attacks along the strip's border under cover of mass protests—also expected to be held Friday.

IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis cautioned Thursday afternoon that the terror group ruling the isolated enclave was "playing with fire and will face the consequences of these incidents, which unmask its true intentions: to carry out terror attacks."

Protests will be renewed with added vigor Friday (Photo: Reuters)

"We have no interest in disrupting protests held deep within the strip," the army's spokesman added.

IDF gearing up for renewal of protests

Also in anticipation of Friday's events, status evaluations and plan of action approvals have taken place among the army's top brass Thursday, spearheaded by Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot.

The army has also equipped itself with special gear, fitted to tackle the many tires expected to be burned by Palestinian protesters as well as any ensuing fires—should they break out.

Previous protests (Photo: Reuters)

"Smoke from 10,000 tries will not change the situation and we have prepared especially for that eventuality," Manelis said. "It may be nothing more than a gimmick. Hamas has failed operationally but interprets the international response to its actions as support to continue on its path."

Tire burnings may be a 'gimmick,' IDF Spokesman Manelis said (Photo: Reuters)

Preparations in Gaza are also well underway for Friday's protests, when clashes around the fence are expected to reach their weekly apex. Despite the fact that sources within the strip said they expected an impressive turnout of protesters, estimates say it will not top last weekend's Land Day protests —when 30,000 people came to protest and 17 were killed, at least 11 of which were deemed terrorists by the army and Shin Bet.</s>KHUZAA, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinians torched tires near Gaza's border with Israel on Friday, sending huge plumes of black smoke into the air and drawing tear gas and live fire from Israeli soldiers deployed on the other side of the border fence.

At least 12 protesters were reported wounded.

Under the cover of smoke, dozens of protesters approached the fence in one area, despite warnings by the Israeli military that those who did so risked their lives. Activists said they were burning the tires in hopes the acrid smoke would block the view of Israeli snipers.

Israel's military sprayed a thick liquid from water cannons toward the fence, apparently to douse the flames.

A dozen people were wounded by live fire, according to reports from medics and a news website run by Gaza's ruling Hamas movement.

This included 10 who arrived at a field hospital set up near the border community of Khuzaa, in one of five tent camps for protesters.

Mohammed Ashour, 20, who had been among the first to set tires on fire, had been shot in the right arm. He rested on a stretcher placed on the ground.

"We came here because we want dignity," he said before paramedics carried him to an ambulance to be transported to the strip's main hospital.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of Palestinians had streamed to the five tent camps for what Hamas hoped would be the second mass protest in a week.

Last Friday, more than a dozen protesters were killed by Israeli fire and hundreds injured, Gaza health officials said.

Yehia Abu Daqqa, a 20-year-old student, said he had come to demonstrate and honor those killed in the past.

"Yes, there is fear," he said of the risks of advancing toward the fence. "We are here to tell the occupation that we are not weak."

Protesters also moved toward other camps, including east of Gaza City, where a senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, greeted the crowd.

Friday's march is the second in what Gaza's Hamas rulers said would be several weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade of the territory.

Israel has accused Hamas of trying to carry out border attacks under the cover of large protests and said it will prevent a breach of the fence at all costs.

Israel's defense minister has warned that protesters approaching the border fence endanger their lives, drawing condemnation from rights groups that said such seemingly broad open-fire rules are unlawful.

A leading Israeli rights group, B'Tselem, issued a rare appeal to Israeli soldiers to refuse "grossly illegal" orders to fire at unarmed protesters.

A White House envoy urged Palestinians to stay away from the fence. Jason Greenblatt said the United States condemns "leaders and protesters who call for violence or who send protesters - including children - to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed."

Last Friday, thousands of Gaza residents participated in the demonstration, many gathering in five tent encampments that had been set up from north to south along the narrow coastal strip's border with Israel, each at a distance of about several hundred meters from the fence. Smaller groups, mostly young men, rushed forward, throwing stones, hurling firebombs or burning tires and drawing Israeli fire.

In all, 22 Palestinians were killed in Gaza over the past week, among them 16 involved in last Friday's protests, according to Gaza health officials. This includes a 30-year-old who died on Friday of injuries sustained last week, the officials said.

The six other deaths included three gunmen killed in what Israel said were attempts to attack the border and three men who were struck by Israeli tank fire.

Last week's turnout was apparently driven by the organizational prowess of Hamas as well as the growing desperation of Gaza residents who live in what has been described as the world's largest open-air prison.

The crowd size was seen as a test for Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seized the territory in 2007 from its political rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Ahead of Friday's march, Hamas announced it would pay compensation to families of those killed or injured, ranging from $200 to $500 per injury and $3,000 per death.

Late Thursday, activists urged residents over loudspeakers mounted on vans touring the streets to show up for what they called the "Friday of Tires."

The idea of mass protests was initially floated by social media activists, but was later co-opted by Hamas, with the backing of smaller militant factions.

For Hamas, it's perhaps the last chance to break a border blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt since 2007, without having to succumb to demands that it disarm.

The blockade has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern. It has also devastated Gaza's economy, made it virtually impossible for people to enter and exit the territory and left residents with just a few hours of electricity a day.

Hamas leaders billed the final protest, set for May 15, as the "Great March of Return" of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, implying they would try to enter Israel. But they stopped short of specifically threatening a mass breach of the border fence.

Israel has warned that it will not permit a breach of the fence and said it has a right to defend its sovereign border.

Military officials have said Hamas has used the protests as a cover for damaging the fence, planting explosives and, in one incident, opening fire on soldiers.

Israel argues that Hamas could have ended the suffering of Gaza's 2 million people by disarming and renouncing violence.

Hamas has refused to give up its weapons - even at the cost of derailing talks on getting Abbas to assume the burden of governing Gaza, seen by Israel and Egypt as a prerequisite for opening Gaza's borders.

Associated Press writers Karin Laub and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israel and Hamas are gearing up for another showdown on the Gaza-Israel border, amid concerns about more bloodshed after more than a dozen Palestinians were killed in a mass protest last week.

Israel says it will prevent a border breach at all costs, warning that protesters approaching the border fence will endanger their lives. Rights groups have denounced such seemingly broad open-fire rules as unlawful.

Friday's march is the second in what Gaza's Hamas rulers say will be weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade. Activists say they will burn tires to block the view of Israeli snipers with black smoke.

Palestinian protesters cover during clashes with Israeli troops along Gaza's border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 5, 2018. An Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza early on Thursday killed a Palestinian, while a second man died from wounds sustained in last week's mass protest. The fatalities bring to 21 the number of people killed in confrontations in the volatile area over the past week with a new round of protests along the border is expected on Friday. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Turnout has been driven by desperation among Gaza residents and Hamas' tight organization. The group has promised to pay compensation to the families of those killed and wounded.

Palestinian protesters evacuate a wounded youth during clashes with Israeli troops along Gaza's border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 5, 2018. An Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza early on Thursday killed a Palestinian, while a second man died from wounds sustained in last week's mass protest. The fatalities bring to 21 the number of people killed in confrontations in the volatile area over the past week with a new round of protests along the border is expected on Friday. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)</s>By AFP - Apr 04,2018 - Last updated at Apr 04,2018

The mother of a Palestinian who was killed along the Israel border with Gaza, reacts at a hospital in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday (Reuters photo)

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli occupation forces on the Gaza border on Tuesday, the health ministry in the strip said, days after occupation forces killed 17 Palestinian demonstrators during border protests.

The ministry identified the dead man as 25-year-old Ahmed Arafa, saying he was shot in the chest east of Bureij in central Gaza.

Israeli occupation forces said they were looking into the incident and could not immediately comment.

It was the first death since at least 17 Palestinians were killed on Friday during a protest calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

It was the deadliest day since the 2014 war between Israel and Gaza’s rulers Hamas.

Smaller protests have continued since, with thousands expected to take to the streets again on Friday.

Israel’s use of live fire has come under criticism from rights groups, while the European Union and UN chief Antonio Guterres have called for an independent investigation into Friday’s violence.

But earlier Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman issued a new warning, saying those who approach the fence between Gaza and Israel will put “their life in danger”.

Israel has defended occupation forces’ actions on Friday, saying they opened fire “only when necessary” against those throwing stones and firebombs or rolling tyres.

It claimed there were attempts to damage the fence and infiltrate Israel.

No casualties were reported among Israelis.

Palestinians say protesters were fired on while posing no threat to soldiers.

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday said Friday’s killings were unlawful and “calculated”, affirming that border protests posed no immediate threat to Israeli occupation forces.</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Latest on the Gaza Palestinians protest march and the violence along the Gaza-Israel border (all times local):

Palestinians are streaming to tent camps along Gaza's border with Israel, ahead of what Gaza's Hamas rulers hope will be the second mass protest in a planned, weeks-long series.

Hundreds arrived before Muslim noon prayers on Friday at one of the tent camps near the border community of Khuzaa.

Israeli forces fired tear gas that landed inside the encampment, causing people to run and push each other away to the other side of the camp. The canisters landed where TV live vans were positioned.

Activists plan to burn large numbers of tires on Friday, in hopes that thick black smoke will block the view of Israeli snipers deployed on the other side of the border fence.

From the camp, an Israeli sniper position reinforced by concrete slabs was visible. In another border area, smoke from burning tires rose in the air and several shots were heard.

A sand berm has been erected in recent days between the fence and the camp for extra protection. A dozen ambulances are parked nearby.

The United States is urging Palestinians in Gaza to stay away from the border fence with Israel ahead of a mass demonstration there.

White House envoy Jason Greenblatt issued a statement on Friday, calling on protesters to march peacefully. He warned against approaching the border area, where more than a dozen Palestinians were killed and many more wounded last week.

Greenblatt said the U.S. condemns "leaders and protesters who call for violence or who send protesters — including children — to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed."

Gaza's Islamic militant rulers have called for a mass rally at the border as part of a weeks-long campaign of protests against a decade-old blockade of the territory.

Israel is closely guarding the fence and has warned it will not tolerate attempts to breach it.

Israeli snipers and tanks have taken up positions ahead of an expected mass protest by Palestinians along the Gaza-Israel border fence.

In one location, protesters burned several tires near the border on Friday, sending clouds of black smoke into the air. Palestinian activists plan to burn many tires in hopes the smoke will block the view of snipers.

The planned march is the second in what Gaza's Hamas rulers have said would be weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade of the territory. Israel alleges Hamas is trying to carry out border attacks under the cover of protests and says it will prevent a breach of the fence at all costs.

The Gaza death toll since last week rose to 22, after a 30-year-old man died on Friday of injuries from last week's demonstrations.

Israel and Hamas are gearing up for another showdown on the Gaza-Israel border, amid concerns about more bloodshed after more than a dozen Palestinians were killed in a mass protest last week.

Israel says it will prevent a border breach at all costs, warning that protesters approaching the border fence will endanger their lives. Rights groups have denounced such seemingly broad open-fire rules as unlawful.

Friday's march is the second in what Gaza's Hamas rulers say will be weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade. Activists say they will burn tires to block the view of Israeli snipers with black smoke.

Turnout has been driven by desperation among Gaza residents and Hamas' tight organization. The group has promised to pay compensation to the families of those killed and wounded.</s>Share this article with Google Plus

The family of an 18-year-old Palestinian man who died in the Gaza border protests last week say he was unarmed and shot in the back as he ran away from the Israeli military.

As harrowing footage emerged of the moment the teenager was gunned down, his family spoke out to say he was not a member of Islamist militant group Hamas.

Abdel Fattah Abd al-Nabi was shot by an Israeli sniper in the back on Friday.

The video shows him running in no-man’s-land while carrying a tyre.

Metres away from reaching a crowd of people, his body crumples to the ground.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) defended its actions and has called the footage ‘Hamas propaganda’.

The IDF is said to have claimed the video has been edited and does not show al-Nabi’s potentially provocative actions before he was killed.

But the teenager’s family claim he was unarmed.

‘He had no gun, no Molotov, a tyre. Does that harm the Israelis, a tyre?’ his brother, Mohamed al-Nabi, 22, told the Washington Post.

‘He wasn’t going toward the Israeli side. He was running away.’

Officials said another man was killed by Israeli gunfire in Gaza on Tuesday, Palestinian medics said, raising the death toll from clashes along the border to 19.

Israel’s defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, yesterday said that the military will not change its tough response to Hamas-led mass protests near Gaza’s border with Israel, warning that those who approach the border are putting their lives at risk.

The planned six-week intermittent border protests are expected to escalate again this Friday, with many anticpiating more bloodshed.

The Palestinians’ ambassador at the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, appealed to the U.N. Security Council for immediate international protection for Palestinian civilians, especially in Gaza.

He charged in a letter to the council that Israel has adopted ‘a shoot-to-kill policy’ during what he called peaceful protests.

The international group Human Rights Watch accused Lieberman and other senior Israeli officials of unlawfully calling for the use of live fire against Palestinian protesters who posed no imminent threat to life.

Last Friday, thousands of Palestinians marched near the border fence between Israel and Gaza, with families setting up camps several hundred meters from the front line.

Smaller groups moved closer to the fence, throwing stones, hurling firebombs or burning tires.

Israeli troops were lined up on the other side of the fence, including snipers perched on high earth embankments overlooking Gaza.

Palestinian health officials have said 18 Palestinians were killed on that day, making it the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas.

More than 750 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire, according to Gaza health officials, with others claiming the number of wounded was closer to 1,500.

Plans have been circulated on social media to burn large numbers of tires on Friday, in hopes that thick black smoke would block the view of Israeli snipers.

Hamas has said the protests would culminate in a ‘March of Return’ implying the demonstrators would at some point try cross the border fence into Israeli territory.</s>Last Friday was an important day for Christians and Jews around the world. For Christians, it was Good Friday, the day that commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus; and for Jews, it was the beginning of the Passover holiday, which commemorates their liberation from slavery and exodus from Egypt.

Friday was also an important commemoration for Palestinians, called “Land Day.” It marks the date in 1976, when six Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed by Israeli security forces.

Now future generations of Palestinians may well also remember Friday, March 30, 2018, as “Bloody Friday.”

On this day, near the fence that separates the Gaza Strip from Israel, 18 Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. It was the highest Palestinian death toll since the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, when more than 2,000 Palestinians were killed, most of them civilians.

For observers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, indeed for anyone even remotely acquainted with it in recent years, this latest bloodshed might seem depressingly common – just another tragic episode of what is often characterized as a cycle of violence.

But what happened in Gaza last Friday was, in fact, quite different from what many people might assume. While the violence has dominated the news headlines, it is not the only big story from that day.

The deaths of 18 Palestinians should not distract all attention away from the fact that tens of thousands of Palestinians had gathered at six different places near the border between Gaza and Israel in peaceful protest.

They were protesting Israel’s ongoing blockade of the small crowded coastal enclave now in its 12th year. They were calling attention to the resulting humanitarian crisis in Gaza. And they were demanding that Palestinian refugees and their descendants (who make up roughly two-thirds of Gaza’s 1.9 million population) be allowed to return to their former homes and reclaim their lands in Israel.

An estimated 35,000 Palestinians participated in this protest, including many families who picnicked in several large tent encampments that had been set up hundreds of meters from the border fence. The vast majority of the protesters were unarmed and nonviolent.

Only a relatively small number of them – mainly young men – hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers and rolled burning tires toward them. Just a few approached the fence and tried to damage or breach it.

Although it was not completely peaceful, this mostly nonviolent mass protest by Gazans is just the beginning of a six-week campaign of nonviolent popular protests that organizers have called the “Great March of Return.”

The campaign will culminate on May 15, which Palestinians commemorate as “Nakba Day.” The Nakba, meaning “catastrophe” in Arabic, refers to Israel’s founding in 1948 and the expulsion and dispossession of Palestinians that accompanied it.

This is by no means the first time that Palestinians have staged mass protests or used nonviolent tactics – what they call “popular resistance” – to confront and challenge Israel and raise international awareness about their plight.

Most famously they did this during the first Palestinian intifada (1987-1993), which began in Gaza in December 1987.

More recently, masses of Palestinians in East Jerusalem peacefully protested last summer when Israel installed metal detectors at the entrances of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.

Palestinians, in other words, have a long history of nonviolent popular protests, so there is nothing really new about the current campaign in Gaza.

What is new, however, and potentially very significant, is the involvement of Hamas, the militant Palestinian Islamist group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007.

Israel, the United States and the European Union all classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. There’s good reason for that, given Hamas’ track record of indiscriminate violence against Israelis, including dozens of suicide bombings during the second intifada and the launching of thousands of rockets into Israel since then.

Hamas is more than just a terrorist group. It is also a political party and a social service organization that funds hospitals, clinics, schools, orphanages and soup kitchens. But violence against Israel, including Israeli civilians, has always been a core component of its ideology and strategy, and, you might say, its “brand.”

Hamas shows no signs of abandoning its armed struggle against Israel. Its new “policy document,” issued last year, still emphasizes “armed resistance,” just as its 1988 founding charter did. Its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, continues to prepare and build up its arsenal for the next round of warfare with Israel.

But Hamas’ willingness to endorse and actively promote the so-called “Great March of Return” campaign, which was initiated by independent Palestinian activists in Gaza, suggests that it might be shifting its tactics away from relying upon violence, since that has proven to be disastrous for Gazans and ineffective for Hamas.

Instead of firing rockets (that Israel’s Iron Dome system can intercept), or using underground tunnels to ambush and capture Israeli soldiers or carry out terror attacks (which Israel’s new anti-tunnel system can now detect and destroy), Hamas has, at least for now, apparently embraced mass protests as a relatively peaceful means to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza and, it hopes, delegitimize Israel in the eyes of the world.

This allows Hamas to avoid a costly and destructive war with Israel. Another war would not only be unpopular among Gazans and unappealing to Hamas’ allies, Qatar and Turkey. It would also be potentially fatal to Hamas’ ability to remain in control of Gaza and its ambition to eventually take over the West Bank as well.

If Hamas can continue to mobilize tens of thousands of Palestinians to protest against Israel on a weekly basis, then it can ensure that the blockade of Gaza receives much more attention in international media and is placed higher on the diplomatic agenda of the international community.

For Israel, Hamas’ new tactic represents a completely different challenge than the military and terrorist threat that it has long been accustomed to and which it has largely succeeded in containing.

There is no high-tech Israeli answer to masses of unarmed Palestinian protesters congregating at Israel’s border fence or even trying to swarm over it. Israeli soldiers are ill prepared and ill-equipped for this kind of confrontation, as last Friday’s killings arguably demonstrated.

However much Israeli officials insist that Palestinian protesters are really terrorists trying to infiltrate into Israel, many people and many governments around the world are likely to sympathize more with the long-suffering Gazans, isolated and impoverished, than with Israel, especially when its troops fire live ammunition at demonstrators.

Mass demonstrations and marches by Palestinians are, in short, if nothing else, a public relations nightmare for Israel.

No wonder, then, that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh declared after last Friday: “We wish to tell the world that the March of Return was peaceful and civilized, and women, youths, children and elderly participated in it.”

The fact that this was not entirely true is beside the point. What matters more is how the world perceives the protest, and whether more of these popular protests, on a similar scale or larger, will take place over the coming weeks.</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel and Hamas geared up Friday for another showdown on the Gaza-Israel border, amid concerns about renewed bloodshed after more than a dozen Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured by Israeli fire in a mass protest last week.

Friday's march is the second in what Gaza's Hamas rulers said would be several weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade of the territory.

Activists plan to burn large numbers of tires Friday, in hopes that clouds of black smoke will block the view of Israeli snipers deployed on the other side of the border fence.

Israel has accused Hamas of trying to carry out border attacks under the cover of large protests and said it will prevent a breach of the fence at all costs.

Israel's defense minister has warned that protesters approaching the border fence endanger their lives, drawing condemnation from rights groups that said such seemingly broad open-fire rules are unlawful.

A leading Israeli rights group, B'Tselem, issued a rare appeal to Israeli soldiers to refuse "grossly illegal" orders to fire at unarmed protesters.

Last Friday, thousands of Gaza residents participated in a mass demonstration, many gathering in five tent encampments that had been set up from north to south along the narrow coastal strip's border with Israel, each at a distance of about several hundred meters from the fence. Smaller groups, mostly young men, rushed forward, throwing stones, hurling firebombs or burning tires and drawing Israeli fire.

In all, 22 Palestinians were killed in Gaza over the past week, among them 16 involved in last Friday's protests, according to Gaza health officials. This includes a 30-year-old who died on Friday of injuries sustained last week, the officials said.

The six other deaths included three gunmen killed in what Israel said were attempts to attack the border and three men who were struck by Israeli tank fire.

Last week's turnout was apparently driven by the organizational prowess of Hamas as well as the growing desperation of Gaza residents who live in what has been described as the world's largest open-air prison.

The crowd size was seen as a test for Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seized the territory in 2007 from its political rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Ahead of Friday's march, Hamas announced it would pay compensation to families of those killed or injured, ranging from $200 to $500 per injury and $3,000 per death.

Late Thursday, activists urged residents over loudspeakers mounted on vans touring the streets to show up for what they called the "Friday of Tires."

The idea of mass protests was initially floated by social media activists, but was later co-opted by Hamas, with the backing of smaller militant factions.

For Hamas, it's perhaps the last chance to break a border blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt since 2007, without having to succumb to demands that it disarm.

The blockade has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern. It has also devastated Gaza's economy, made it virtually impossible for people to enter and exit the territory and left residents with just a few hours of electricity a day.

Hamas leaders billed the final protest, set for May 15, as the "Great March of Return" of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, implying they would try to enter Israel. But they stopped short of specifically threatening a mass breach of the border fence.

Israel has warned that it will not permit a breach of the fence and said it has a right to defend its sovereign border.

Military officials have said Hamas has used the protests as a cover for damaging the fence, planting explosives and, in one incident, opening fire on soldiers.

Israel argues that Hamas could have ended the suffering of Gaza's 2 million people by disarming and renouncing violence.

Hamas has refused to give up its weapons — even at the cost of derailing talks on getting Abbas to assume the burden of governing Gaza, seen by Israel and Egypt as a prerequisite for opening Gaza's borders.</s>Israeli troops killed three men in the second mass protest in a week along Gaza's volatile border, as Palestinians torched piles of tires to create a smoke screen to block the view of snipers.

Friday's death brought to 25 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire over the past week, including 19 protesters. Gaza health officials said 150 people were hospitalized Friday, but did not provide details on injuries.

Friday's march was the second in what Gaza's Hamas rulers said would be several weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade of the territory. Israel has accused the Islamic militant group of using the protests as a cover for attacking Israel's border, and has warned that those approaching the fence put their lives at risk.

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians streamed to five tent encampments that organizers had set up, each about several hundred meters from the border fence.

In one camp near the border community of Khuzaa, smaller groups of activists moved closer to the fence after Friday's noon prayers.

Associated Press video showed demonstrators torching large piles of tires, engulfing the area in black smoke meant to shield them from Israeli snipers; the faces of some of the activists were covered in black soot.

Israeli troops on the other side of the fence responded with live fire, tear gas, rubber coated steel pellets and water cannons.

Later on Friday, the shadowy Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, visited the Khuzaa camp, receiving a hero's welcome. He was surrounded by hundreds of supporters who chanted, "We are going to Jerusalem, millions of martyrs."

Sinwar told the crowd that the world should "wait for our great move, when we breach the borders and pray at Al-Aqsa," referring to the major Muslim shrine in Jerusalem.

It appeared to be the first time a Hamas leader specifically threated to break through the border — something Israel has said it would not allow at any price.

The Israeli military said protesters on Friday hurled several explosive devices and firebombs under cover of smoke, and that several attempts to cross the fence were thwarted. The military said it brought in a huge fan to disperse the tire smoke.

After the first tires started burning, several young men with gunshot wounds began arriving at a field clinic at the camp.

Mohammed Ashour, 20, who had been among the first to set tires on fire, was shot in the right arm.

"We came here because we want dignity," he said resting on a stretcher before paramedics transported him to the strip's main hospital.

Yehia Abu Daqqa, a 20-year-old student, said he had come to honor those killed in previous protests.

"Yes, there is fear," he said of the risks of advancing toward the fence. "We are here to tell the occupation that we are not weak."

Hamas had billed the final protest, set for May 15, as the "Great March of Return" of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, implying they would try to enter Israel. But the group stopped short of specifically threatening a mass breach of the border fence.

An Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, described the protests as "riots," and said Hamas organizers are trying to use them to "insert terrorists into Israel."

"If they are actively attacking the fence, if they are throwing a molotov cocktail that is within striking distance of Israeli troops or similar activities, then those persons, those rioters, become, may become, a target," he said.

Israel has drawn sharp criticism for its open-fire orders along the border, including its warnings that those approaching or trying to damage the fence would be targeted.

The U.N. human rights office said Friday that it has indications that Israeli forces used "excessive force" against protesters last week.

Rights groups have branded orders permitting the use of lethal force against unarmed protesters as unlawful. A leading Israeli rights group, B'Tselem, issued a rare appeal to Israeli soldiers this week to refuse the "grossly illegal" open-fire orders.

Conricus said that under "clear rules of engagement" snipers are used "sparingly" and only against those that pose a "significant threat."

A White House envoy urged Palestinians to stay away from the fence. Jason Greenblatt said the United States condemns "leaders and protesters who call for violence or who send protesters — including children — to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed."

In all, 25 Palestinians were killed in Gaza over the past week, including 19 protesters, according to Gaza health officials.

The six other deaths included three gunmen killed in what Israel said were attempts to attack the border fence and three men who were struck by Israeli tank fire.

The turnout has apparently been driven by the organizational prowess of Hamas as well as the growing desperation of Gaza residents who live in what has been described as the world's largest open-air prison.

The crowd size was seen as a test for Hamas, which seized the territory in 2007 from its political rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, after winning legislative elections the previous year.

Ahead of Friday's march, Hamas announced it would pay compensation to families of those killed or injured, ranging from $200 to $500 per injury and $3,000 per death.

The mass protests are perhaps Hamas' last chance to break a border blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt since 2007, without having to succumb to demands that it disarm.

The blockade has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern. It has also devastated Gaza's economy, made it virtually impossible for people to enter and exit the territory and left residents with just a few hours of electricity a day.

Israel argues that Hamas could have ended the suffering of Gaza's 2 million people by disarming and renouncing violence.

Hamas has refused to give up its weapons — even at the cost of derailing talks on getting Abbas to assume the burden of governing Gaza, seen by Israel and Egypt as a prerequisite for opening Gaza's borders.

Associated Press writers Karin Laub and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, Ian Deitch in Jerusalem, and Josef Federman on the Gaza border contributed to this report.
The Israeli Defence Forces releases footage of a man fatally shot yesterday during an apparent attempt to breach the Gazan border fence. Israel says he was carrying an AK-47 and explosive devices including grenades, and accused Hamas of "playing with fire".