GAZA, Palestinian Territory—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. On Tuesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 42 Palestinians have been killed in the weekly marches and 5,511 wounded. The U.N. high commissioner for human rights has urged Israel to refrain from using excessive force against Palestinians who have been staging weekly mass protests on the Gaza border with Israel. 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 meters (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 about 200 meters (yards) and approaching the fence. Witnesses said at least three protesters broke through the fence and briefly entered Israel before running back. Palestinian health officials reported three people killed and 611 wounded, including 138 hit by live fire in incidents along the border throughout the day. The Latest on protests at Gaza border with Israel (all times local):

The Israeli military has responded to the reported violence at the border fence east of Gaza City, saying its troops "thwarted" an attempted infiltration by Palestinian protesters. The Israeli army said in a statement Friday that 10,000 Palestinians took part in what it called riots in five locations along the fence that separates Gaza from Israel, and that hundreds attempted to enter Israel by burning the fence adjacent to the now-disused Karni border crossing point. It said the crowd threw explosives, firebombs and rocks, and that troops opened fire “in accordance with the rules of engagement” and halted 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. Footage filmed inside Gaza showed youths at a barbed wire fence, being urged to “cut, cut.”

In other incidents, the military said Palestinian crowds rolled burning tires, hurled rocks and flew kites with flaming objects attached with the goal of damaging the fence and other Israeli targets. It also released a photo appearing to show a group of youths tugging at barbed wire along the fence. The marches, aimed in part at trying to break a decade-old border blockade, have been organised by Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers but have also been driven by widespread despair in the coastal territory of two million people. “It is Hamas that is fully responsible for every Palestinian injury and death that has resulted from these incidents.”

At previous peace talks, the Palestinians have always demanded, along with sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Old City, a “right of return” to Israel for Palestinian refugees who left or were forced out of Israel when it was established. Israel’s position is that Palestinian refugees and their descendants would become citizens of a Palestinian state at the culmination of the peace process, just as Jews who fled or were forced out of Middle Eastern countries by hostile governments became citizens of Israel. The demonstrations, collectively dubbed the Great March of Return, originally were scheduled to culminate in a massive march of thousands on May 15, the date that commemorates Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, called Nakba Day, or Catastrophe Day, by Palestinians. Hamas organizers have made conflicting statements about whether they plan a mass border breach at some point. Hamas’ supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, visited a protest camp in the southern town of Rafah, vowing larger protests in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and among Palestinian refugees in other countries on May 15. Israel has repeatedly expressed concern over the possibility of a mass breach, in which Gazans would stream across with terrorists among them, wreaking havoc. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said Israeli troops have not heeded warnings by the United Nations and others, repeatedly using lethal force against unarmed protesters in the past month. “The loss of life is deplorable, and the staggering number of injuries caused by live ammunition only confirms the sense that excessive force has been used against demonstrators — not once, not twice, but repeatedly,” the commissioner said. U.N. Human Rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Hussein said Friday that Israel must explain its use of “excessive force” in Gaza, where “the number of injuries is staggering.”

A spokesman for the Israeli military said Thursday that its “troops operate in accordance with clear rules of engagement that are tailored to these scenarios.”

Amnesty International published a statement Friday calling for an embargo on arms sales to Israel and claiming that “Israel is carrying out a murderous assault against protesting Palestinians, with its armed forces killing and maiming demonstrators who pose no imminent threat to them.”

On Thursday, U.S. Israel’s military has said troops are under orders to target “instigators,” but has also warned that anyone approaching or trying to damage the fence risks his life.
Three Palestinians are killed and over 300 hurt according to the Hamas-run health ministry as thousands protested. The Israeli army says that hundreds of rioters tried to infiltrate Israel, attempted to start fires in a number of ways, and attacked the security fence with explosive devices, grenades, and rocks.