Aug. 18 (UPI) — Two Palestinians have been killed and 270 other people have been injured in clashes with Israeli armed forces at the Gaza border despite cease fire attempts.
Clashes along the Gaza border Friday left two Palestinians dead and injured 270 other people, 60 of them by live fire.
Karim Abu Fatayer, 30, died after being shot in the head by an Israeli sniper, the Palestinian Chronicle reported. Sadi Akram Muammar, 26, was killed east of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Thousands of Palestinians gathered and rioted on the Gaza Strip, mostly deep within its territory and not adjacent to its border, the Jersulalem Post reported. Improvised explosive devices were thrown toward the security fence, but there were no casualties or damage to Israeli forces.
The violence came amid Egypt finalizing details of a long-term cease fire between Israel and Hamas, but a dispute over power-sharing hindered implementing the deal.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday while speaking at a closing session of the Palestinian Central Council meeting, he would “never accept the separation of Gaza from the West Bank,” adding that any humanitarian aid to Gaza must go through the Palestinian Authority.
“There is no state in Gaza nor an autonomy in the West Bank, and we will not accept this. We will never accept the separation of Gaza (from the West Bank),” Abbas said. “Either we take control of authority as it is in Gaza and the West Bank-with one state, one system, one law and one weapon-or they (Hamas) takes control instead (in Gaza).”
Also, on Friday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, proposed an armed military or police force to protect Palestinians in Gaza in a special report published following a General Assembly resolution condemning the violence in Gaza, along with expanding humanitarian aid programs.
Lat week, two other Palestinians died in the border clashes and hundreds of protesters were also injured.
Medic Abdullah Qatati, who received a gunshot wound to the head, and 55-year-old Ali Saeed Aloul, died and about 240 other protesters sustained injuries last week, the Gaza Ministry of Health said.
Palestinian demonstrators have been taking part in weekly protests, named the Great March of Return, calling for return of refugees to homelands from which they were displaced in 1948. More than 159 Palestinians have been killed since protests began March 30, Gaza Health Ministry said.
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