Hundreds of Palestinians have begun protesting along the Gaza border fence, with Palestinian reports saying Israeli soldiers have been employing tear gas to disperse them.
According to Palestinian reports, several Palestinians have been wounded. Members of Hamas tasked with restraining demonstrators when necessary are present at the border, but their numbers are few and a few dozen protesters managed to bypass them and move toward the fence.
Last week, Palestinian factions in Gaza resumed protests along the border, claiming that “Israel is shirking all the understandings reached on reconstructing the Strip and easing the blockade” – which were agreed upon after May’s hostilities between the two sides.
The factions decided to resume the protests despite an agreement between the United Nations and Qatar on transferring stalled Qatari aid money for poor families in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had beefed up forces near the Gaza Strip ahead of the planned border demonstrations led by Hamas.
Officers and soldiers were instructed to respond “more aggressively” to any attempts to breach the border fence or attack Israeli soldiers, following last week’s shooting of Border Police officer Bar’el Hadaria Shmueli, 21, who was hit through a slit in the border fence, and remains in critical condition.
More than 40 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, including a 13-year-old boy, who is also in critical condition.
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The military said it has prepared for various scenarios, including a flare-up of violence, only three months after a round of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Also on Tuesday, Al Arabiya network reported, citing unnamed sources, that Hamas has agreed to stop launching incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip following talks with Egyptian intelligence officials.
On Monday, Egyptian security sources said that Cairo will close the Rafah crossing on its border with Gaza until further notice. According to two Egyptian security sources, the closure was made for security reasons, after clashes broke out during Palestinian protests on the Gaza-Israel border on Saturday.
Rafah is the sole crossing between Egypt and Gaza, where an Israeli-led blockade has placed severe restrictions on the movement of goods and people for years.
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