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| AFP / SAID KHATIB Palestinians sit near the Gaza-Israel border on the outskirts of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 28, 2018 |
Israel has warned that its soldiers could use live fire
if Gaza Palestinians try to breach the border with Israel during a mass
rally planned for Friday.
It is expected to kick off more than six weeks of protests
throughout the Palestinian territories leading up to the inauguration
of the new US embassy in Jerusalem around May 14.
Gazans are
expected to gather from Friday in camps being erected along the border
fence, a few hundred metres (yards) from the Israeli lines.
Israeli
armed forces chief Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot said in comments
published Wednesday by local daily Yediot Aharonot that the current
border tension presented the most serious risk of conflict since he took
up his post in 2015.
Israeli tanks on Wednesday fired at
positions of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas, in the wake of heavy gunfire
from the strip, the detonation of roadside bombs aimed at Israeli border
patrols and an incursion by three armed Palestinians who penetrated
some 20 kilometres (12 miles) into Israel before being captured.
Eisenkot
said reinforcements, including more than 100 special forces snipers,
had been deployed to the border and the army was prepared for all
scenarios.
Among them is the prospect of an attempt by protesters,
organised or not, to break through the border fence which surrounds the
Gaza Strip, home to two million Palestinians largely cut off from the
rest of the world by Israeli and Egyptian blockades.
"We won't allow mass infiltration into Israel and to damage the fence," Eisenkot told Yediot.
"The
instructions are to use a lot of force," he said. "In the event of
mortal danger (to troops) there is authorisation to open fire."
Officially, protest is being organised by civil society, but Israel believes Hamas and allied groups are behind the plans.
Hamas
leader Ismail Haniya said his movement was involved as "an investment
in this peaceful and popular event to support the steadfastness of the
Palestinians in their battle to regain their legitimate rights."
Speaking to journalists in the Gaza Strip, he said Israel was seeking to delegitimise the planned protest.
"It
will describe it as an activity that belongs to Hamas, will threaten to
use violence against it and will deny its popular and peaceful
foundation," said Haniya.
The Israeli security cabinet met Wednesday to discuss military preparations but did not issue any public statement.
- Tensions soar -
Soldiers
posted at the border regularly fire live ammunition at Gazans who come
too close, but Israel this time is worried about the possible presence
of women and children in the danger zone.
Thousands, if not tens
of thousands, of Gazans are expected to join border protests in coming
six weeks, culminating on May 15 with a march toward the barrier.
That
date is marked by Palestinians as the anniversary of the Nakba, or
"catastrophe", when more than 700,000 Palestinians fled their land or
were expelled during the war that led to the creation of Israel in 1948.
The
United States plan to open its embassy around the same time, to
coincide with the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Israeli
state, is further stoking Palestinian anger.
The US decision to
recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital infuriated the Palestinians, who
have broken off ties with the administration of President Donald Trump.
They
claim the city's Israeli-annexed eastern sector as the capital of their
future state, an aspiration which Trump did not address in his December
declaration.
Hamas has said it would ensure that participants do
not expose themselves to danger by going too close to approaching
Israeli positions too closely.
But the latest border incidents have sent tensions soaring.
Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since 2008, the most recent of which in 2014 ended with a fragile truce.
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