Palestinians are stockpiling thousands of tires to burn at the Gaza border on Friday in a bid to blur the vision of Israeli soldiers with smoke and flames.
The next mass protest, following on from a deadly demonstration last Friday attended by tens of thousands of Palestinians, has been nicknamed ‘the Friday of Old Tires’, a source told the Jerusalem Post.
‘The hope is that the [Israeli] soldiers will not be able to shoot because the thick, black smoke will block their line of vision,’ the source said.
Confrontations in the volatile area over the past week have left 21 people dead. Out of that number, 15 were killed during border protests, and videos and witness accounts indicate that most were not armed or carrying out attacks at the moment they were killed.
The latest death toll comes after an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza early on Thursday killed a Palestinian, and a second man succumbed to injuries he sustained in last Friday’s protest.
A Palestinian protester moves a burning tire during clashes with Israeli troops at Israel-Gaza border on Thursday
The new round of protests along the Gaza-Israel expected on Friday raises the prospect of further bloodshed.
It comes as Iran’s Supreme Leader said Israel should be forced to retreat ‘to the point of demise.’
In a statement, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on the people of Muslim countries to defeat Israel.
‘With an intense and planned struggle they should force the enemy to retreat toward the point of demise,’ he said.
‘Movement toward negotiation with the cheating, lying and oppressive regime (of Israel) is a big, unforgivable mistake that will push back the victory of the people of Palestine,’ Khamenei said in a statement posted on his official website.
The statement, which did not explicitly name Saudi Arabia, said it was the duty of all Muslims to support Palestinian resistance movements and it pledged continued Iranian backing for the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
A protester waves a Palestinian flag as smoke rises from burning tires during Thursday’s clashes
A Palestinian protester stands next tires in Khan Younis town in the southern Gaza Stri
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said Israelis were entitled to live peacefully on their own land.
Saudi Arabia – birthplace of Islam and site of its holiest shrines – does not officially recognise Israel, but Mohammed bin Salman’s comments, quoted in the U.S. magazine The Atlantic, are a further sign of an apparent thawing in bilateral ties.
‘I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation,’ he said.
‘I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land,’ he added.
‘But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations.’
In the interview, he also compared Khamenei to Hitler.
Palestinians are stockpiling thousands of tires to burn at the Gaza Strip’s border on Friday
The new round of protests along the Gaza-Israel expected on Friday raises the prospect of further bloodshed
‘I believe the Iranian Supreme Leader makes Hitler look good. Hitler didn’t do what the supreme leader is trying to do. Hitler tried to conquer Europe. The supreme leader is trying to conquer the world.’
Khamenei issued Wednesday’s statement in reply to a letter he recently received from Hamas chief Ismail Haniya which criticised the support of Arab governments in the region for the United States.
Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, dominates the small coastal strip of Gaza.
The protest march last week, largely organized by Hamas, had been billed as the first of several weeks of intermittent protests against a stifling decade-old Israeli blockade.
Hamas leaders have portrayed the final protest, set for May 15, as the ‘Great March of Return’ of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, implying they would try to enter Israeli territory.
But they have stopped short of specifically threatening a mass breach of the border fence.
Palestinian protesters collect tires to burn during the protest at the border on Friday
A Palestinian protester moves a burning tire during clashes with Israeli security forces in a tent city protest along the Israel border
The Israeli military has said it will not allow anyone to breach the border fence and has beefed up forces in the area, with snipers and other special units. The military was on high alert ahead of Friday.
In the latest violence, the military said an aircraft had targeted an ‘armed terrorist adjacent to the security fence’ in northern Gaza early in the morning.
The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed the Palestinian man’s death, but did not immediately release his identity.
It also confirmed the death of a man who was wounded in last Friday’s protests.
Hundreds more were wounded by live fire last week, according to Palestinian health officials.
Of the 21 dead so far, 15 were killed during border protests, and videos and witness accounts indicate that most were not armed or carrying out attacks at the moment they were killed.
Israel has defended its actions by saying the marches are planned by the militant Islamic Hamas group, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction.
It says the border fence was attacked with burning tires, stones and firebombs, and in one case, by a pair of gunmen.
It says its snipers carefully targeted only the main ‘instigators,’ and accuses Hamas of using the crowds as cover to stage attacks.
‘By defending the border fence, the IDF is protecting civilian homes,’ the military said on Twitter, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned in a radio interview on Thursday that Israel would respond harshly to any attempt to violate its security.
Earlier this week, Lieberman said Gazans who approach the fence would be risking their lives.
Rights groups have condemned orders to shoot unarmed protesters as unlawful, saying lethal force can only be used if soldiers face an apparent imminent threat to their lives.
The Israeli group B’Tselem, in a rare appeal, urged Israeli soldiers to refuse such orders.
The United Nations and the European Union have called for independent investigations into the shootings.
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said Israelis were entitled to live peacefully on their own land
Meanwhile, Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel held separate meetings this week with Israeli officials and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the West Bank-based rival of Hamas, in hopes of preventing an escalation on the Gaza border.
In recent months, Egypt had tried to broker a deal that would have enabled Abbas to take back control in the Gaza Strip, more than a decade after Hamas seized the territory from forces loyal to him.
Hamas, in turn, had hoped that Israel and Egypt would end their blockade Gaza if the group handed the reins of government to Abbas. However, talks broke down last month, in part because Hamas refused to disarm.
Hamas and Israel have fought three wars in the Gaza Strip since 2009.
Abbas told the Egyptian intelligence this week that he would not waste any more time negotiating a deal with Hamas and that he would only assume responsibility for Gaza if Hamas hands over all powers, including control over the security apparatus, according to two Palestinian officials.
All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the meeting with reporters.
How Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is changing Saudi Arabia in 2018
Saudi Arabia has laid the groundwork for momentous social and economic changes that will take place this year, defying its conservative reputation for slow, cautious reforms.
King Salman and his ambitious 32-year-old son and heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have upended decades of royal family protocol, social norms and traditional ways of doing business.
They bet instead on a young generation of Saudis hungry for change and a Saudi public fed up with corruption and government bureaucracy.
Saudi Arabia will begin issuing driving licences to women this year
There is also a need to cut a budget deficit of at 195 billion riyals ($50 billion) caused by collapsing oil prices.
The world’s biggest oil exporter had previously been able to rely on income from it to spend lavishly to maintain its population’s standard of living and subsidise the extravagant spending of its royal princes.
The clam down on corruption that has seen 200 officials detained, including one of King Abdullah’s sons, former National Guard chief Prince Miteb bin Abdullah.
He was released last month after agreeing to pay back the government $1 billion.
The conservative kingdom hosted Comic Con events here thousands of fans dressed up in their favorite action-hero costume
Hand-in-hand with economic reforms, the Kingdom is bringing about social changes.
A ban on women driving has been lifted and there are plans to begin issuing licenses to women, even allowing them to drive motorcycles.
This year women will also be allowed to attend sporting matches in national stadiums, where they were previously banned.
Movie theaters, shut down in the 1980s during a wave of ultraconservatism, are returning to the Kingdom.
Rapper Nelly performing in Saudi Arabia, one of many entertainers who made it to the country
Previously, Saudis could stream movies online, watch them on satellite TV or travel to neighboring countries like Bahrain and the UAE.
This past year, rapper Nelly and two Games of Thrones stars came to Saudi Arabia for the first time. John Travolta also visited the Kingdom, meeting with fans and talking to them about the US film industry.
Saudi Arabia also held two Comic Con events in major cities, where thousands of fans dressed up in their favorite action-hero costumes.
Actors Julian Glover and Charles Dance, Grand Maester Pycelle and Tywin Lannister from HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’, made an appearance at one as rock music blared in the halls.