At least 18 Palestinians have died in Gaza after Israeli forces opened fire on Friday, March 30 on a protest near the Gaza Strip’s eastern border with Israel. As many as 1700 Palestinians were wounded, with videos posted online showing unarmed Palestinians being shot in the back while taking part in a protest that day.
Democracy Now! said the deaths and injuries came as 30,000 Gaza residents gathered near the wall, as part of a planned six-week-long non-violent protest against the blockade of Gaza and to demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees. The protests began on Friday, March 30, known as “Land Day”, marking the anniversary of the 1976 killing of six Palestinians protesting the Israeli confiscation of Arab land.
Another 49 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces on Saturday, March 31. Israel’s actions have been condemned around the world, but Israel is rejecting calls to investigate the killings. At the United Nations, the US blocked a move by the UN Security Council to open an investigation.
Palestinians are calling for global protests. In Australia, protests have been planned in Brisbane on Friday April 6, in Melbourne on Saturday April 7 and in Sydney on Sunday April 8.
In a piece reposted from The Electronic Intifada below, Ali Abduminah asks whether or not the global solidarity movement will be able to make Israel pay the price for its latest slaughter in Gaza.
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Palestinians are calling for escalating global campaigns to isolate Israel after its army killed 16 people in the Gaza Strip and wounded almost 1,500 others.
Meanwhile, Israel has rejected calls for an international investigation and its defense minister has commended soldiers on Friday’s slaughter.
“Evoking memories of the South African apartheid regime’s massacre of peaceful protesters in Sharpeville in 1960, Israel’s military committed a new massacre against Palestinian civilians as they were peacefully commemorating Palestinian Land Day,” the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) said April 2.
The BNC, the steering group for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, urged people around the world to “mainstream the demand for all private and public entities in your country to end all cooperation and/or trade with the Israeli military and ‘security sector.’”
It also calls for heightened campaigns targeting companies and financial institutions complicit in Israel’s crimes.
Devastating injuries
Tens of thousands took part in Great March of Return rallie on March 30 to demand their right of return to lands from which Palestinians were ethnically cleansed, and to protest Israel’s decade-long blockade of Gaza.
As of April 2, 16 Palestinians had died as a result of Israel’s assault. The Israeli army injured almost 1500 people, more than 800 of them with live ammunition, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
Dr. Mohammed Ziara, a general practitioner at Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital, posted pictures on Twitter that show devastating injuries sustained by protesters. Ziara told The Electronic Intifada that the images were taken by surgeons at the hospital who treated the injuries.
The images indicate Israeli forces may have used bullets that fragment in the body causing massive damage to tissue. Bullets that expand or fragment are banned under international law.
Israeli spin
Over the weekend, Israel continued to try to portray victims of its violence as hardcore Hamas militants who had organised a violent invasion across the boundary.
But the propaganda narrative collapsed as videos emerged documenting apparent war crimes, particularly the lethal shooting of Abd al-Fattah Abd al-Nabi, 19, as he ran away from the Israel-Gaza boundary fence. Abd al-Nabi was reportedly shot in the head.
On March 31, the Israeli military tweeted a statement claiming full responsibility for the killings, asserting that “everything was accurate and measured, and we know where every bullet landed.”
But it quickly deleted the statement as emerging evidence gave the lie to its claims.
Read the full article at Green Left Weekly.