The Associated PressGAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hundreds of Palestinians converged on the Gaza Strip’s border fence with Israel on Friday, trying to rip through it before drawing heavy Israeli fire in one of the most violent incidents yet in five weeks of protests. The Gaza Health Ministry said apart from the Palestinian teenager, three other Palestinians were killed on Friday and 200 wounded by gunfire. 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. Witnesses said three protesters briefly crossed into Israel and turned around. Some in the crowd shouted “shahid,” or “martyr” as bodies were taken away on stretchers. 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. For the last four weeks, Gazans have staged rallies along the border to demand the “right of return” to their homes in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel. The protests are to culminate on May 15, the anniversary of Israel’s creation. 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. The Israeli military said about 14,000 Gazans had been participating in what it described as "riots," and that some had tried to breach the frontier. Israel’s use of live fire has drawn international criticism but it says it is protecting its borders and takes such action only when protesters, some hurling stones and rolling burning tires, come too close to the fence. A 15-year-old Palestinian boy died on Saturday after being wounded by Israeli troops during protests along the Gaza border, the Palestinian health ministry said. “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. Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, said Israel is “diligently defending its sovereignty” and accused Zeid of encouraging Hamas’ “exploitation of civilians.” He said the commissioner is “not focused on human rights, but only with obsessively criticizing Israel.”

Thousands have taken part in the Friday demonstrations from five protest tent camps, each set up several hundred meters (yards) from the border fence. A 15-year-old Palestinian youth died on Saturday after being shot the previous day by Israeli troops during protests along the Gaza border, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
A Palestinian youth is shot and injured at the border near al-Awdeh after approaching the border fence.