Palestinians protest throughout territories in 'day of rage'
Thousands protest in solidarity with Palestinian detainees who are hunger striking for better detention conditions; dozens of Palestinians and two IDF soldiers reportedly injured; hundreds of Gazans march on border fence.
Multiple Palestinian protests took place throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Friday. Dozens of Palestinians were reportedly injured by crowd-dispersion measures taken by the IDF, and two Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded.
The demonstrations were held as part of a "day of rage" that Gaza Strip factions called for on Thursday to support the current hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The prisoners, who began their strike on April 17, are calling for better detention conditions.
Thousands protested across the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian Red Crescent and Gazan Ministry of Health reported that dozens of Palestinians were wounded by tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.
The IDF reported that two of its soldiers were slightly injured.
Al-Jazeera TV released a video showing undercover Israeli soldiers detaining a number of Palestinians who were rioting at the northern entrance to Bethlehem. It was reported that the undercover soldiers managed to spread among the protestors before revealing themselves and detaining six of them.
In the Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinians marched on the border fence with Israel and attempted to damage it. They threw stones and burned tires there. IDF forces responded with attempts at crowd dispersal.
The Gazan Health Ministry reported that eight Palestinians were injured by bullets and some 30 by tear gas.
The Border Police said that the fire on the Gaza border was fired at Palestinians after they penetrated the "sterile area" between the Gaza Strip and Israel. They further reported injuries to the lower body of four Palestinians from shots fired by a sniper of the Border Police undercover unit.
Elior Levy & Yoav Zitun contributed to this report.
(Translated and edited by J. Herzog)
