Palestinian Land Day: Israel deploys 100 snipers to Gaza border ahead of expected protests

'If lives are in jeopardy, there is permission to open fire', military's chief of staff warns

Israeli soldiers will not allow 'mass infiltration' of the Gaza border Lieutenant-General Gadi Eizenkot says (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Israel’s military has deployed more than 100 snipers on the Gaza Strip border ahead of a planned mass Palestinian protests, the country’s top general said in an interview.

Organisers said they expect thousands in Gaza, including entire families, to answer the call for protests on Friday symbolically linked to what Palestinians call “Land Day.”

Large crowds are expected to gather in tent cities in five locations along the sensitive border in a six-week protest for the “right of return” of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel.

Citing security concerns, the Israeli military enforces a “no go” zone for Palestinians on land in Gaza adjacent to Israel’s border fence.

Lieutenant-General Gadi Eizenkot, the military’s chief of staff, told the Yedioth Ahronoth daily that the military would not allow “mass infiltration” or tolerate damage to the barrier during the protests.

“We have deployed more than 100 sharpshooters who were called up from all of the military’s units, primarily from the special forces,” Mr Eizenkot said in the interview.

“If lives are in jeopardy, there is permission to open fire.”

Israeli soldiers are confronted by frequent violent Palestinian protests along the Gaza border and have used tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition against demonstrators who the military said hurled rocks or petrol bombs at them.

The beginning of the demonstration was symbolically linked to “Land Day,” which commemorates the six Arab citizens of Israel killed by Israeli security forces in demonstrations in 1976 over land confiscations.

It coincides with the week-long Jewish holiday of Passover, when Israel heightens its security.

A man hangs a Palestinian flag amid a collection of tents near the border with Israel, in the southern Gaza Strip (REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

The protest is due to end on 15 May, the day Palestinians call the “Nakba” or “Catastrophe”, marking the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the conflict surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948.

Organisers said the protest is supported by several Palestinian factions, including Gaza’s dominant Islamist Hamas movement, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

A man hangs a Palestinian flag at an electric pole (REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

Israeli cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi, speaking on Israel Radio, said Hamas had avoided direct conflict with Israel since the end of the 2014 Gaza war.

But he said the pressure Hamas was now feeling from Israel’s destruction of some of its network of attack tunnels near the border, coupled with harsh economic conditions in Gaza, were “a formula for rising tension”.

Palestinian youth prepare a tent during preparations for mass protests along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip (EPA/MOHAMMED SABER)

Palestinians have long demanded that as many as five million of their compatriots be granted the right to return.

Israel rules this out, fearing an influx of Arabs that would eliminate its Jewish majority.

It argues the refugees should resettle in a future state that the Palestinians seek in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Additional reporting by Reutrers