UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation into Friday’s deadly clashes in Gaza.
Funerals were expected to be held Saturday for those killed when thousands of Palestinians marched to Gaza’s border with Israel a day earlier.
The “Land Day” march was held to mark the killing of six Arab Israelis during 1976 demonstrations against Israeli confiscations of Palestinian land.
Friday quickly turned into the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 war as Palestinian protesters and Israeli military clashed along the fence.
In northern Gaza, CNN witnessed at least two dozen people being taken away by ambulances in a half-hour span as protests started across Gaza. CNN also saw a small number of protesters throwing rocks. People were injured by live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas. The majority were young men — one woman was among the injured.
A spokesman for Palestinian Ministry of Health officials told CNN that they were already running out of essential emergency medicine and blood for transfusions due to the high number of injured.
In an article on its website, the United Nations reported that Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, the deputy UN political affairs chief, told Friday’s Security Council meeting that around 30,000 people participated in and around the March at various locations in Gaza.
Soon after the demonstrations started, the UN report said, “(T)he situation turned deadly in several spots.”
“Some of the casualties were reportedly the result of live ammunition used by Israeli security forces during the March. Other casualties followed armed clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, including the shelling of a Hamas observation point,” the United Nations said.
“Reports indicate that most of the demonstrators stayed well away from the border fence and were not violent,” the United Nations reported Zerihoun as saying.
“However, there are also reports that some protesters engaged in stone-throwing and violent behavior; some reportedly carrying weapons,” Zerihoun said.
He reportedly told the Security Council that Israeli security forces said that militants tried to get through the fence in attempt to plant explosives.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Friday that IDF troops responded with riot dispersal means and firing toward main instigators.
An IDF official warned any breach of Israeli sovereignty would be treated severely after a week of attempted and successful breaches of the border fence from Gaza.
Confrontations escalated into Saturday. Israeli fighter jets targeted three Hamas sites after an IDF position was shot at in northern Gaza, according to an IDF statement. Tank fire also targeted the three sites following an exchange of fire.
