GAZA CITY: Five Palestinians died during fresh clashes on the Gaza border on Friday, the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave said.
The men, aged between 22 and 27, died in separate incidents along the border fence, the ministry said.
Three were shot dead east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, while one was killed east of Jabalia in northern Gaza, the ministry said.
A fifth man died east of Bureij in central Gaza when a hand grenade he was holding exploded accidentally, eyewitnesses said.
The Israeli army did not comment on the deaths but said approximately 10,000 “demonstrators and rioters” were gathered along the border, with some setting tyres alight and hurling grenades.
Troops were responding with “riot dispersal means,” the spokesman added.
Palestinians have gathered for protests along the Gaza border at least weekly since late March.
At least 213 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the protests began on March 30, according to figures collated by AFP.
The majority have died during protests, though smaller numbers have been killed by air strikes and tank fire.
One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper along the border in the same period.
Palestinian protesters are calling to be allowed to return to lands their families fled or were expelled from in a 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel and which are now inside the Jewish state.
They are also opposing Israel’s crippling blockade of Gaza.
Israel accuses Gaza’s rulers Hamas of orchestrating the often violent demonstrations.
Meanwhile, clashes between rival groups inside a Palestinian camp in southern Lebanon left at least three people dead and six others injured, Palestinian and Lebanese security sources said on Friday.
The violence erupted overnight between members of the Palestinian secular Fatah movement and others from the group Ansar Allah at the Mieh Mieh Palestinian refugee camp, 40 kilometres south of the capital Beirut, the sources added.
The clashes continued until the early hours of Friday.
The dead were mainly Fatah members, and the injured included two Lebanese army soldiers, who were manning a checkpoint at the entrance of the camp, Palestinian sources said. The violence caused major damage to the camp and prompted families to flee the site to the nearby port city of Sidon, they added. — AFP/dpa
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