JERUSALEM: Israel's defence minister said on Sunday a Palestinian scientist shot dead in Malaysia was a rocket expert and "no saint", but dismissed suggestions by Hamas that Israel's Mossad spy agency assassinated him.

Two men on a motorcycle fired 10 shots at Fadi al-Batsh, an engineering lecturer, in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, killing him on the spot, the city's police chief, Mazlan Lazim said.

Hamas, an Islamist militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, said one of its members had been assassinated in Malaysia. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Mossad had been behind past attempts to kill Palestinian scientists, and the attack on Batsh "follows this sequence."

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said it was likely that Batsh was killed as part of an internal Palestinian dispute.

"We heard about it in the news. The terrorist organisations blame every assassination on Israel - we're used to that," Lieberman told Israel Radio.

"The man was no saint and he didn't deal with improving infrastructure in Gaza - he was involved in improving rockets' accuracy ... We constantly see a settling of accounts between various factions in the terrorist organisations and I suppose that is what happened in this case."

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the suspects in the killing, who fled the scene, were believed to be Europeans with links to a foreign intelligence agency, state news agency Bernama reported.

He added that Batsh was active in pro-Palestinian non-governmental organisations, describing him as an expert in electrical engineering and rocket-building.

He could have been seen as "a liability for a country that is an enemy of Palestine," Zahid was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Batsh was a lecturer at Universiti Kuala Lumpur, specialising in power engineering, according to the university.

Batsh's uncle Jamal al-Batsh, speaking to Reuters in the Gaza Strip, said he believed Mossad was behind the killing because "Israel knows Palestine will be liberated by scientists".

Hamas, which advocates Israel's destruction, fired thousands of rockets at Israel, most of them intercepted by an anti-missile system, during a 2014 Gaza war that included devastating Israeli attacks in the enclave of two million Palestinians.

In recent weeks, tensions have been running high at the Gaza-Israel border as Palestinians have ramped up protests demanding the right to return to homes that are now in Israel.

Israel's use of live fire, killing at least 35 Palestinians, has drawn international criticism. Israel says it is protecting its borders and takes such action when protesters come too close to the border fence.</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group said Saturday that a man who was gunned down in Malaysia was an important member of the organization, accusing Israel of being behind the brazen killing.

Hamas said Palestinian engineer Fadi al-Batsh was a "loyal" member and a "scientist of Palestine's youth scholars." It gave no further details on his scientific accomplishments but said he had made "important contributions" and participated in international forums in the field of energy.

Hamas initially stopped short of blaming Israel, saying only that he had been "assassinated by the hand of treachery." But later its top leader accused Israel's Mossad spy agency intelligence of killing him and threatened retaliation.

Ismail Haniyeh told The Associated Press Saturday that based on previous assassinations "Mossad is not away from this disgraceful, terrible crime."

"There will be an unsettled account between us and it," Haniyeh said at the Gaza mourning tent, referring to Mossad. "We cannot give up on the blood of our sons, youths and scholars."

The Israeli government had no comment. But Israel has a long history of suspected targeting of wanted Palestinian militants in daring overseas operations around the globe and has been linked to other assassinations as well, though it has rarely publicly acknowledged them.

Malaysian police say the 34-year-old al-Batsh was gunned down early Saturday by two assailants who shot at least eight bullets from a motorbike as he was heading to a mosque for dawn prayers in Kuala Lampur. It said closed-circuit television footage showed him targeted by assassins who had waited for him for almost 20 minutes.

Malaysia's deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the government was looking into the possibility of the involvement of "foreign agents" in his killing. He told local media that initial investigations showed the assailants were "white men" driving a powerful BMW 1100cc motorbike.

Besides his Hamas affiliation, al-Batsh was also a cousin of Khaled al-Batsh, a senior official in the Islamic Jihad militant group, who accused Mossad of the assassination, without providing evidence.

Though Hamas stressed al-Batsh's scientific background, the funeral service of the Islamic movement's militant wing suggested al-Batsh was actually one of its military commanders. At a mourning tent in the Gaza Strip, a banner described al-Batsh as a member of the military wing. Ten masked militants in camouflage uniforms stood in a line outside the tent in Jabaliya, the slain man's hometown, to greet mourners. The ceremony is typical for senior Hamas commanders.

Al-Batsh specialized in electrical and electronic engineering and worked at a Malaysian university. He had lived there with his family for the past eight years and was an imam at a local mosque.

He received his Ph.D degree from the University of Malaya in 2015 and was a senior lecturer at the British Malaysian Institute. His official biography said his research interests included power converters, power quality and renewable energy.

However, Israeli media reported that he was also deeply involved in the Hamas drone development project.

Israel and Hamas are bitter foes who have fought three wars since 2008. Tensions have risen in recent weeks with a series of mass protests along the Gaza border in which 32 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli troops since late March.

Hamas says the protests are aimed at breaking a crippling border blockade that was imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant group overran Gaza in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliamentary elections. It says it also aims to assert the right of refugees to return to their former homes in Israel.

Israel accuses Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction and has carried out dozens of deadly suicide bombings against it, of cynically exploiting Gaza civilians for its political aims by staging the protests and trying to carry out attacks under their cover.

Israel has used lethal force against unarmed protesters, but it says it is only targeting instigators who are trying to damage the border fence with explosives, firebombs and other means. However, the United Nations, the European Union and rights groups have questioned Israel's use of force when soldiers' lives are not in danger and the U.N. and E.U. have called for investigations.

Protests are aiming to culminate in a large border march on May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel founding. The date is mourned by Palestinians as their "nakba,"or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were uprooted in the 1948 Mideast war over Israel's creation.

Associated Press writer Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group said Saturday that a man who was gunned down in Malaysia was an important member of the organization, accusing Israel of being behind the brazen killing.

Hamas said Palestinian engineer Fadi al-Batsh was a "loyal" member and a "scientist of Palestine's youth scholars." It gave no further details on his scientific accomplishments but said he had made "important contributions" and participated in international forums in the field of energy.

Hamas initially stopped short of blaming Israel, saying only that he had been "assassinated by the hand of treachery." But later its top leader accused Israel's Mossad spy agency intelligence of killing him and threatened retaliation.

Ismail Haniyeh told The Associated Press Saturday that based on previous assassinations "Mossad is not away from this disgraceful, terrible crime."

"There will be an unsettled account between us and it," Haniyeh said at the Gaza mourning tent, referring to Mossad. "We cannot give up on the blood of our sons, youths and scholars."

The Israeli government had no comment. But Israel has a long history of suspected targeting of wanted Palestinian militants in daring overseas operations around the globe and has been linked to other assassinations as well, though it has rarely publicly acknowledged them.

Malaysian police say the 34-year-old al-Batsh was gunned down early Saturday by two assailants who shot at least eight bullets from a motorbike as he was heading to a mosque for dawn prayers in Kuala Lampur. It said closed-circuit television footage showed him targeted by assassins who had waited for him for almost 20 minutes.

Malaysia's deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the government was looking into the possibility of the involvement of "foreign agents" in his killing. He told local media that initial investigations showed the assailants were "white men" driving a powerful BMW 1100cc motorbike.

Besides his Hamas affiliation, al-Batsh was also a cousin of Khaled al-Batsh, a senior official in the Islamic Jihad militant group, who accused Mossad of the assassination, without providing evidence.

Though Hamas stressed al-Batsh's scientific background, the funeral service of the Islamic movement's militant wing suggested al-Batsh was actually one of its military commanders. At a mourning tent in the Gaza Strip, a banner described al-Batsh as a member of the military wing. Ten masked militants in camouflage uniforms stood in a line outside the tent in Jabaliya, the slain man's hometown, to greet mourners. The ceremony is typical for senior Hamas commanders.

Al-Batsh specialized in electrical and electronic engineering and worked at a Malaysian university. He had lived there with his family for the past eight years and was an imam at a local mosque.

He received his Ph.D degree from the University of Malaya in 2015 and was a senior lecturer at the British Malaysian Institute. His official biography said his research interests included power converters, power quality and renewable energy.

However, Israeli media reported that he was also deeply involved in the Hamas drone development project.

Israel and Hamas are bitter foes who have fought three wars since 2008. Tensions have risen in recent weeks with a series of mass protests along the Gaza border in which 32 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli troops since late March.

Hamas says the protests are aimed at breaking a crippling border blockade that was imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant group overran Gaza in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliamentary elections. It says it also aims to assert the right of refugees to return to their former homes in Israel.

Israel accuses Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction and has carried out dozens of deadly suicide bombings against it, of cynically exploiting Gaza civilians for its political aims by staging the protests and trying to carry out attacks under their cover.

Israel has used lethal force against unarmed protesters, but it says it is only targeting instigators who are trying to damage the border fence with explosives, firebombs and other means. However, the United Nations, the European Union and rights groups have questioned Israel's use of force when soldiers' lives are not in danger and the U.N. and E.U. have called for investigations.

Protests are aiming to culminate in a large border march on May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel founding. The date is mourned by Palestinians as their "nakba,"or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were uprooted in the 1948 Mideast war over Israel's creation.

Associated Press writer Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.</s>GAZA, Palestinian Territory — The Hamas militant group says a man who was gunned down in Malaysia was one of its members who had made “important contributions” in science.

In a statement, Hamas said Saturday that Palestinian engineer Fadi al-Batsh was a “loyal” member and a “scientist of Palestine’s youth scholars.” It gave no further details on his scientific accomplishments but said he had participated in international forums in the field of energy.

Hamas stopped short of blaming Israel, saying only that he had been “assassinated by the hand of treachery.” But relatives of al-Batsh believe Israel targeted him.

Malaysian police say Batsh was gunned down by two assailants on a motorbike as he was heading to a mosque for dawn prayers. Besides his Hamas affiliation, he was also a relative of a senior official in the Islamic Jihad militant group.</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Latest on developments related to Gaza protests (all times local):

The Hamas militant wing is suggesting that a Palestinian engineer and lecturer shot dead in Malaysia was one of its commanders.

The armed wing of Hamas has opened a mourning house in Gaza Saturday for Fadi al-Batsh.

A main banner at the entrance of the tent described al-Batsh as a member of the military wing and "a commander."

Ten masked militants in camouflage uniforms stood in a line outside the tent in Jabaliya, the slain man's hometown, to greet mourners. The ceremony is typical for senior Hamas commanders.

A photographer says a Palestinian teen who was killed by Israeli army fire was dozens of meters (yards) from the Gaza border fence when he was hit by a bullet.

Gaza health officials have identified Mohammed Ayyoub, either 15 or 14 years old, as one of four Palestinians killed Friday by Israeli troops firing from across the fence in the fourth round of weekly Hamas-led protests near the border.

Photographer Abed Alhakeem Abu Rish said Saturday he saw the teen standing about 150 meters (164 yards) from the fence. He says Ayyoub was about to take cover behind a low sand berm when he was shot and fell to the ground.

Abu Rish's photographs show the teen as he collapses head first and then lies motionless in the same spot.

The European Union has urged the Israeli military to "refrain from using lethal force against unarmed protesters," after four Palestinians, including a teen-age boy, were killed by army fire in protests along Gaza's border with Israel.

In Saturday's statement, the European Union's diplomatic service called for a full investigation of Friday's shootings.

Friday marked the fourth round of weekly mass border protests, led by Gaza's ruling Hamas group.

The marches are aimed, in part, at breaking a border blockade of Gaza enforced by Israel and Egypt since 2007, when the Islamic militant group seized the territory, a year after winning Palestinian parliament elections.

Since late March, 32 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,600 wounded by Israeli army fire in these protests, according to Gaza health officials.

Israel's defense minister says Gaza's Hamas rulers are the "only culprits" in the death of a Palestinian boy who was killed by Israeli army fire in protests on the Gaza-Israel border.

Avigdor Lieberman alleged on Twitter that Hamas uses women and children as human shields. His comments Saturday came after a top U.N. envoy in the region, Nikolay Mladenov, said it is "outrageous to shoot at children" and demanded an investigation.

The Israeli military has not commented on the killing of Mohammed Ayyoub. Gaza health officials initially gave his age as 15, but a local rights group, citing official documents, said he was 14.

Ayyoub was one of four Palestinians killed Friday by Israeli army fire in the fourth round of weekly border protests led by the Islamic militant Hamas.

Health officials say Israeli soldiers firing from across a border fence have killed four Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, and wounded more than 150 others as several thousand people in blockaded Gaza staged a fourth round of weekly protests on the border with Israel.

Huge black plumes of smoke from burning tires engulfed the border area on Friday. Some of the activists threw stones toward the fence or flew kites with flaming rags dangling from their tails.

The latest deaths brought to 32 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in protests since late March. More than 1,600 have been wounded by live rounds in the past three weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group said Saturday that a man who was gunned down in Malaysia was an important member of the organization, accusing Israel of being behind the brazen killing.

Hamas said Palestinian engineer Fadi al-Batsh was a "loyal" member and a "scientist of Palestine's youth scholars." It gave no further details on his scientific accomplishments but said he had made "important contributions" and participated in international forums in the field of energy.

Hamas initially stopped short of blaming Israel, saying only that he had been "assassinated by the hand of treachery." But later its top leader accused Israel's Mossad spy agency intelligence of killing him and threatened retaliation.

Ismail Haniyeh told The Associated Press Saturday that based on previous assassinations "Mossad is not away from this disgraceful, terrible crime."

"There will be an unsettled account between us and it," Haniyeh said at the Gaza mourning tent, referring to Mossad. "We cannot give up on the blood of our sons, youths and scholars."

The Israeli government had no comment. But Israel has a long history of suspected targeting of wanted Palestinian militants in daring overseas operations around the globe and has been linked to other assassinations as well, though it has rarely publicly acknowledged them.

Malaysian police say the 34-year-old al-Batsh was gunned down early Saturday by two assailants who shot at least eight bullets from a motorbike as he was heading to a mosque for dawn prayers in Kuala Lampur. It said closed-circuit television footage showed him targeted by assassins who had waited for him for almost 20 minutes.

Malaysia's deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the government was looking into the possibility of the involvement of "foreign agents" in his killing. He told local media that initial investigations showed the assailants were "white men" driving a powerful BMW 1100cc motorbike.

Besides his Hamas affiliation, al-Batsh was also a cousin of Khaled al-Batsh, a senior official in the Islamic Jihad militant group, who accused Mossad of the assassination, without providing evidence.

Though Hamas stressed al-Batsh's scientific background, the funeral service of the Islamic movement's militant wing suggested al-Batsh was actually one of its military commanders. At a mourning tent in the Gaza Strip, a banner described al-Batsh as a member of the military wing. Ten masked militants in camouflage uniforms stood in a line outside the tent in Jabaliya, the slain man's hometown, to greet mourners. The ceremony is typical for senior Hamas commanders.

Al-Batsh specialized in electrical and electronic engineering and worked at a Malaysian university. He had lived there with his family for the past eight years and was an imam at a local mosque.

He received his Ph.D degree from the University of Malaya in 2015 and was a senior lecturer at the British Malaysian Institute. His official biography said his research interests included power converters, power quality and renewable energy.

However, Israeli media reported that he was also deeply involved in the Hamas drone development project.

Israel and Hamas are bitter foes who have fought three wars since 2008. Tensions have risen in recent weeks with a series of mass protests along the Gaza border in which 32 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli troops since late March.

Hamas says the protests are aimed at breaking a crippling border blockade that was imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant group overran Gaza in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliamentary elections. It says it also aims to assert the right of refugees to return to their former homes in Israel.

Israel accuses Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction and has carried out dozens of deadly suicide bombings against it, of cynically exploiting Gaza civilians for its political aims by staging the protests and trying to carry out attacks under their cover.

Israel has used lethal force against unarmed protesters, but it says it is only targeting instigators who are trying to damage the border fence with explosives, firebombs and other means. However, the United Nations, the European Union and rights groups have questioned Israel's use of force when soldiers' lives are not in danger and the U.N. and E.U. have called for investigations.

Protests are aiming to culminate in a large border march on May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel founding. The date is mourned by Palestinians as their "nakba,"or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were uprooted in the 1948 Mideast war over Israel's creation.

Associated Press writer Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.</s>JERUSALEM: Israel's defence minister today dismissed claims the country's spy agency was behind the assassination of a Palestinian scientist in Malaysia, suggesting instead that his killing was a "settling of accounts".Speaking to Israeli radio, Avigdor Lieberman described the dead Palestinian, a member of Islamist militant group Hamas, as "no saint" and said he had been involved in rocket production.Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, 35, was killed in a Kuala Lumpur drive-by shooting on Saturday, according to Malaysian authorities, with his family accusing Israel's Mossad spy agency of the assassination.Hamas said Batsh, a research scientist specialising in energy issues, was one of its members."There's a tradition among terror organisations of blaming Israel for every instance of settling of accounts," Lieberman told public radio, noting the reports that Batsh's work involved improving the range and accuracy of rockets."The man was no saint and settling accounts among terror groups and different factions is something we see all the time," he said."I assume this was the case here too." An autopsy was being carried out Sunday on the body of Batsh, who was walking to dawn prayers at a local mosque in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Gombak when he was shot by two gunmen riding a motorcycle, Malaysian officials said.At the crime scene, police markers indicated 14 bullets had been sprayed at the victim, some of them hitting a wall.Malaysian Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was quoted by the state-run Bernama news agency as saying Batsh was "an electrical engineer and an expert at making rockets".Militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza fire rockets at southern Israel, but usually without casualties.Malaysia's police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said a task force has been formed to investigate the killing but would not speculate on the motive or whether foreign assassins were involved.Photos of the two suspects provided by witnesses showed they looked like Europeans, he told a news conference Sunday afternoon.When asked if there was evidence of foreign involvement in the killing, he said: "We want to ensure a complete probe. We are still investigating the motive. I urge people not to make any conclusion." No arrests have been made and the murder weapon has not been recovered, he said.Palestinian representative to Malaysia Anwar al-Agha said Fadi's body would be taken back to the Palestinian territories for burial.Mohammad Shedad, 17, a student and a relative of the victim, also blamed Mossad for the killing."It is definitely the work of Mossad. Fadi is a very clever person, anyone who is clever is a threat to Israel," he told AFP outside the victim's Malaysian apartment."Fadi is a Hamas member and knows how to make rockets. So (Israel) think he is dangerous." Batsh was married with three young children and had lived in Malaysia for 10 years.It was the second high-profile killing of a foreigner in Malaysia in just over a year.In February 2017 assassins smeared the banned VX nerve agent on the face of Kim Jong Nam , the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, killing him within minutes.The Mossad is believed to have assassinated Palestinian militants and scientists in the past, but rarely confirms such operations.Hamas has accused Mossad of assassinating one of its drone experts -- Mohamed Zouari -- in Tunisia in 2016, and the spy agency is also believed to have been behind the 2010 murder of top Hamas militant Mahmud al-Mabhuh in a Dubai hotel.In Iran, a total of five scientists -- four of them involved in the country's nuclear programme -- were killed in bomb and gun attacks in Tehran between 2010 and 2012 at the height of tensions over the country's nuclear ambitions. Iran has accused Mossad and the CIA of ordering the killings.Tensions between Israel and Gaza are high, with 38 Palestinians killed in four weeks of clashes along the border.Today, Israel announced the arrest of 19 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, 15 of them allegedly affiliated with Hamas in Gaza "who were instructed to carry out different missions on behalf of the Hamas terror organisation," the army said.</s>JERUSALEM
• Israel's Defence Minister said yesterday that a Palestinian scientist shot dead in Malaysia was a rocket expert and "no saint", but dismissed suggestions by Hamas that Israel's Mossad spy agency assassinated him.

Two men on a motorcycle fired 10 shots at Dr Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, an engineering lecturer, in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, killing him on the spot, said the city's police chief Mazlan Lazim.

Dr Batsh was walking from his apartment to dawn prayers at a local mosque at the suburb of Gombak when he was shot. An autopsy on his body was being carried out yesterday.

Hamas, an Islamist militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, said one of its members had been assassinated in Malaysia. Its leader Ismail Haniyeh said Mossad had been behind past attempts to kill Palestinian scientists, and the attack on Dr Batsh "follows this sequence".

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said it was likely that Dr Batsh was killed as part of an internal Palestinian dispute. "The terrorist organisations blame every assassination on Israel - we're used to that," Mr Lieberman told Israel Radio.

"The man was no saint and he didn't deal with improving infrastructure in Gaza - he was involved in improving rockets' accuracy... We constantly see a settling of accounts between various factions in the terrorist organisations and I suppose that is what happened in this case."

Malaysian police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said yesterday that a task force has been formed to investigate the killing but would not speculate on the motive or whether foreign assassins were involved.

Photos of the two suspects provided by witnesses showed they looked like Europeans but police could not confirm they were in fact from Europe, he told a news conference. "We want to ensure a complete probe. We are still investigating the motive," Tan Sri Fuzi said.

No arrests have been made so far and the murder weapon has not been recovered, he said, as he appealed for witnesses to come forward.

Palestinian representative to Malaysia Anwar al-Asha said Dr Batsh's body will be taken back to the Palestinian territories for burial after it is handed back to the family.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was quoted by the state-run Bernama news agency yesterday as saying that Dr Batsh was "an electrical engineer and an expert at making rockets".

Militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza fire rockets at southern Israel, but usually without casualties. In recent weeks, tensions have run high at the Gaza-Israel border as Palestinians ramped up protests demanding the right to return to homes that are now in Israel.</s>Sign up for one of our email newsletters.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli soldiers firing Friday from across a border fence killed four Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, and wounded more than 150 others, health officials said, as several thousand people in blockaded Gaza staged a fourth round of weekly protests on the border with Israel.

Huge black plumes of smoke from burning tires engulfed the border area. Some of the activists threw stones toward the fence or flew kites with flaming rags dangling from their tails.

The latest deaths brought to 32 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in protests since late March. More than 1,600 have been wounded by live rounds in the past three weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The rising Palestinian casualty toll signaled that Israel's military is sticking to its open-fire rules despite international criticism of the use of lethal force against unarmed protesters. Israel says it's defending its border, and alleges Gaza's ruling Hamas uses protests as cover for attacks.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council late Friday that Israeli forces continue demonstrating the “cruelty of their occupation machine, responding to the calls of unarmed civilians for freedom and justice with brutal and lethal force.” He said one of the latest victims was a 25-year-old disabled man.

Israeli soldiers are positioned on the other side of the border fence, including snipers taking cover behind earthen berms, and none have been hurt.

Turnout for the marches has fluctuated, with the biggest showing on March 30, but Friday's crowd appeared to have been somewhat larger than the one the previous week.

The marches are part of what organizers, led by Hamas, have billed as an escalating showdown with Israel, to culminate in a mass march on May 15.

The top Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said Friday that people should get ready for large crowds spilling across the border that day. “Our people will outnumber the occupation and force it from our land,” he said, referring to Israel.

Hamas says the protests are aimed at breaking a crippling border blockade that was imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant group overran Gaza in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliament elections.

The marches also press for a “right of return” of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced from homes in the 1948 war over Israel's creation. Palestinians mark May 15, the anniversary of Israel's founding, as their “nakba,” or catastrophe, to mourn their mass uprooting.

“We will stay here until we reclaim our lands,” said Ahmed Nasman, 21, speaking in a protest tent camp east of Gaza City, as activists near him prepared kites. “Every day, we will come here with a new way to resist them,” he said, referring to Israel.

Several thousand protesters flocked to the border area Friday, most gathering at five tent camps several hundred meters (yards) away from the border. Smaller groups advanced toward the fence, throwing stones, burning tires and flying kites with burning rags.

The kites are part of a new tactic aimed at setting fields on the Israeli side on fire. Most kites showed the colors of the Palestinian flag. One white kite bore a Nazi swastika.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli military aircraft had dropped leaflets urging Palestinians to stay away from the fence and warning that they endanger their lives if they follow Hamas directives.

While Hamas and smaller Palestinian factions have taken a lead as organizers, the mass marches are also fueled by growing desperation among Gaza's 2 million residents.

The border blockade has trapped nearly all of them in the tiny coastal territory, gutted the economy and deepened poverty. Gaza residents typically get fewer than five hours of electricity per day, while unemployment has soared above 40 percent.

Yehiyeh Sinwar, a top Hamas official, told activists that even if conditions are tough, “we will not bargain on the Palestinian people's rights in exchange for bread.”

Israel has accused Hamas of cynically exploiting Gaza civilians for its political aims. Hamas critics say the group's refusal to disarm has been a key obstacle to ending the blockade.

Gaza's Health Ministry said those killed Friday included three men in their 20s and a 15-year-old boy.

In addition, 729 protesters were hurt, including 156 hit by live fire, the ministry said, adding that five of the wounded were in serious condition. Some of the others were hurt by rubber-coated steel pellets or overcome by tear gas.

The military has said Palestinians have tried to damage the border fence with explosives, firebombs and other means. It has said snipers only target the “main instigators.”

Rights groups have branded open-fire orders as unlawful, saying they effectively permit soldiers to use potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters.</s>JERUSALEM: Israel's defence minister on Sunday (Apr 22) dismissed claims the country's spy agency was behind the assassination of a Palestinian scientist in Malaysia, suggesting instead that his killing was a "settling of accounts".

Speaking to Israeli radio, Avigdor Lieberman described the dead Palestinian, a member of Islamist militant group Hamas, as "no saint" and said he had been involved in rocket production.

Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, 35, was killed in a Kuala Lumpur drive-by shooting on Saturday, according to Malaysian authorities, with his family accusing Israel's Mossad spy agency of the assassination.

Hamas said Batsh, a research scientist specialising in energy issues, was one of its members.

"There's a tradition among terror organisations of blaming Israel for every instance of settling of accounts," Lieberman told public radio, noting the reports that Batsh's work involved improving the range and accuracy of rockets.

"The man was no saint and settling accounts among terror groups and different factions is something we see all the time," he said. "I assume this was the case here too."

An autopsy was being carried out Sunday on the body of Batsh, who was walking to dawn prayers at a local mosque in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Gombak when he was shot by two gunmen riding a motorcycle, Malaysian officials said.

At the crime scene, police markers indicated 14 bullets had been sprayed at the victim, some of them hitting a wall.

Malaysian Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was quoted by the state-run Bernama news agency as saying Batsh was "an electrical engineer and an expert at making rockets".

Militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza fire rockets at southern Israel, but usually without casualties.

Malaysia's police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said a task force has been formed to investigate the killing but would not speculate on the motive or whether foreign assassins were involved.

Photos of the two suspects provided by witnesses showed they looked like Europeans, he told a news conference on Sunday afternoon.

When asked if there was evidence of foreign involvement in the killing, he said: "We want to ensure a complete probe. We are still investigating the motive. I urge people not to make any conclusion."

No arrests have been made and the murder weapon has not been recovered, he said.

Palestinian representative to Malaysia Anwar al-Agha said Fadi's body would be taken back to the Palestinian territories for burial.

Mohammad Shedad, 17, a student and a relative of the victim, also blamed Mossad for the killing.

"It is definitely the work of Mossad. Fadi is a very clever person, anyone who is clever is a threat to Israel," he told AFP outside the victim's Malaysian apartment.

"Fadi is a Hamas member and knows how to make rockets. So (Israel) think he is dangerous."

Batsh was married with three young children and had lived in Malaysia for 10 years.

It was the second high-profile killing of a foreigner in Malaysia in just over a year.

In February 2017 assassins smeared the banned VX nerve agent on the face of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, killing him within minutes.

The Mossad is believed to have assassinated Palestinian militants and scientists in the past, but rarely confirms such operations.

Hamas has accused Mossad of assassinating one of its drone experts - Mohamed Zouari - in Tunisia in 2016, and the spy agency is also believed to have been behind the 2010 murder of top Hamas militant Mahmud al-Mabhuh in a Dubai hotel.

In Iran, a total of five scientists - four of them involved in the country's nuclear programme - were killed in bomb and gun attacks in Tehran between 2010 and 2012 at the height of tensions over the country's nuclear ambitions.

Iran has accused Mossad and the CIA of ordering the killings.

Tensions between Israel and Gaza are high, with 38 Palestinians killed in four weeks of clashes along the border.

On Sunday, Israel announced the arrest of 19 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, 15 of them allegedly affiliated with Hamas in Gaza "who were instructed to carry out different missions on behalf of the Hamas terror organisation," the army said.
Hamas says Palestinian engineer Fadi al-Batsh, shot dead on his way to a mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, today, was an important member. Hamas does not ascribe responsibility for the killing but the victim's relatives allege Israeli involvement. Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett calls al-Batsh a terrorist and says no burial will be permitted in Gaza.