GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The leader of Gaza's ruling Hamas group and Israel's prime minister staked out tough positions Monday, making de-escalation on the Israel-Gaza border in the near future unlikely. Since late March, 26 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded by Israeli fire in mass border protests led by Hamas, but also driven by widespread desperation over the territory's decade-old border blockade by Israel and Egypt. The protests are seen, in part, as an attempt by Hamas to break the blockade. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh renewed a pledge Monday that the marches would pave the way for a return of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel. "We will return to Palestine, our villages and Jerusalem," Haniyeh said in a fiery speech at one of five protest camps set up along the border. He stopped short of threatening a mass breach of the border, though another Hamas leader has done so in recent speeches. Lieberman accused Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, of using the media, as well as ambulances and medical patients, as cover to carry out attacks. It has said some of those at the border tried to damage the fence, planted explosives or hurled firebombs. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Sderot, an Israeli community near Gaza, and said Israel's top priority is its security. "We have one clear and simple rule and we seek to express it constantly: If someone tries to attack you — rise up and attack him," Netanyahu said. "We will not allow, here on the Gaza border, them to hurt us. We will hurt them." Israel has said it has the right to defend its sovereign border, amid mounting international expressions of concern about the escalation of the past 10 days. Israel's military said Monday night that it is "thoroughly" investigating after media broadcast video that appears to show a soldier shooting a Palestinian near the Gaza fence as audio of other soldiers are heard cheering when the individual falls. The circumstances of the shooting are unclear. It was not initially clear when or where the video was taken, but it drew attention after 10 days of protests in Gaza, during which some 30 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces. “Incidents such as the one in the video published [Monday] occurred hundreds of times over the past few weeks in the Gaza Strip, causing death and injuries — with the full support of policymakers and top military officials,” Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said in a statement. Commenting on the killing of Murtaja, Israel’s defence minister Avigdor Lieberman suggested the journalist, a father of one, was responsible for his own death – despite the fact that Israel was warned that its shooting of civilians could amount to a war crime by the International Criminal Court. But in an apparent reference to Hamas, she also said "the use of civilian presence for the purpose of shielding military activities" could also be a war crime. This cannot be allowed to continue, and those responsible must be held to account.” Over the past weekend, other images circulated on social media and in news outlets worldwide showing Palestinian journalist and photographer Yasser Murtaja wounded after being shot by Israeli forces in Friday’s demonstrations. In addition to 26 Palestinians killed in protests, three were killed by Israeli tank fire and three were gunmen apparently trying to sneak through the border fence. Held under the name “The Great March of Return,” the protests are meant to last until Nakba Day on May 15, when Palestinians commemorate the displacement of their people during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Israel and Egypt have enforced a blockade since Hamas, an Islamic militant group, overran the territory in 2007. Hamas has fought three cross-border wars with Israel, and its political charter calls for Israel's destruction. Earlier Monday, Israeli fighter jets struck a Hamas target in Gaza, in response to two explosive devices found near Israel's border with the territory, the military said. No injuries were reported in the strike.
Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman calls Gazan journalist Yasser Murtaja, shot dead by Israel while covering border protests, as a "Hamas terrorist" engaged in intelligence gathering against the Israeli military.