UTV | COLOMBO – Three Palestinians were shot dead Friday as thousands demonstrated along the border between Gaza and Israel for a fifth consecutive week of rallies dubbed the ‘Great March of Return’.
More than 300 other people were hospitalised for gunshot wounds and tear gas inhalation, Gaza’s health authority said.
Forty-four Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli fire since major protests began on March 30, with hundreds more wounded.
No Israelis have been hurt.
Palestinians again gathered at five sites near the border fence, though numbers were down on previous weeks.
Dozens of young men burned tires and threw stones a few hundreds meters from the border, with Israeli soldiers occasionally firing at them.
More than 300 Palestinians were injured by gunfire or teargas inhalation, Gaza’s health ministry said.
A 22-year-old freelance photographer was among those shot, the ministry said.
Forty-one Palestinians have been killed since the demonstrations began on March 30, with hundreds more injured.
Marchers are demanding the right to return to their homes seized by Israel in 1948.
Israel says that allowing the refugees in would mean the end of the Jewish state, and accuses Gaza’s rulers Hamas of using the protests as a pretext for violence.
Demonstrations are expected to spike again in the lead up to May 14, when the United States is expected to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The decision has infuriated Palestinians, who see the annexed eastern half of the holy city as the capital of their future state.
Israel has rejected calls for an independent inquiry into the deaths along Gaza’s border, with the army saying its troops only use live ammunition as a last resort.