IDF fires at 5 Palestinians, one of them armed, at Gaza border

Five Palestinians were injured by Israeli artillery fire early Wednesday morning east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run health ministry said.

The Gaza health ministry said the Palestinian men were on a base belonging to the military wing of Hamas when they were struck.

The Israel Defense Forces, in a statement, confirmed it targeted a group of five Palestinians who approached the border fence.

At least one of the Gazans was armed, the army said.

The Hebrew-language Walla news website cited an unnamed army source as saying security forces had thwarted an attempt by the group to plant an explosive device along the border fence.

On Tuesday evening, the Israeli military said it fired tank shells at a Hamas post in the southern Gaza Strip, after gunmen opened fire at Israeli troops operating near the border. There were no Israeli casualties in that incident. A military spokeswoman noted that the clash occurred in an area which has seen recurrent violence during recent weeks’ protests near the border.

The incident came days after the IDF destroyed a Hamas attack tunnel dug under the border fence that reached dozens of meters into Israeli territory. It passed under the border in an area where Palestinian protesters have recently clashed with security forces, the army said Sunday, and was ready for use.

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Tensions along the security fence have been rising in recent weeks with the Palestinians holding mass marches near the border, and in some cases rioting, for the last three consecutive weekends. Israel says the violence is being orchestrated by Hamas, which it accuses of trying to carry out border attacks under the cover of large protests.

On Friday, at least 10,000 Gazans took part in large-scale demonstrations, with the Israeli military saying protesters hurled an explosive device and firebombs at Israeli troops deployed at the border, as well as making “several attempts” to damage the fence between Israel and Gaza, and cross over into Israeli territory. A week earlier, about 20,000 Palestinians took part in the demonstrations, with the previous week attracting an estimated 30,000.

More than 30 Palestinians have been killed in the clashes over the part three weeks, according to Hamas-run health authorities. Hamas has acknowledged that several of those killed were its members, and Israel has identified other fatalities as members of terrorist groups.

The protests are part of what Hamas said will be several weeks of “March of Return” demonstrations, which Hamas leaders say ultimately aim to see the removal of the border and the liberation of Palestine.

AFP, Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.