10 Dead, 112 Hurt by Israeli Gunfire against Protesters Marking Palestine Nakba Day on Lebanon Border
Israeli gunfire killed 10 people and wounded 112 others in the Lebanese border town of Maroun al-Ras during a Palestinian refugee protest on Sunday to mark "Nakba Day," the Lebanese army said in a statement.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) called for "maximum restraint on all sides in order to prevent any further casualties" and for "immediate concrete security steps on the ground."
Lebanon's military said the Israeli army opened fire on protesters who gathered in the border town of Maroun al-Ras.
"The Israeli enemy's forces opened fire on the crowds, leading to the martyrdom of 10 people while 112 suffered various injuries, some of them critical," it said.
"The casualties were hit in the face, stomach and heart," a medical source at Bint Jbeil hospital told Agence France Presse, adding that the casualties had been identified.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency identified six protesters killed in clashes as Imad Abu Shaqra, Mohammed Abu Shalha, Mohammed Samir Saleh, Saleh Abu Rashid and Mohammed Samir al-Fandi.
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned the Israeli shootings as "flagrant and unacceptable aggression," while Syria warned that the Jewish state would bear full responsibility for its "criminal" actions.
In Israel, the army said "several rioters attempted to breach the border fence and to infiltrate Israeli territory" from the Lebanese side. Israeli soldiers responded "by firing warning shots" to prevent damage to property or security forces, it added.
The Israeli army said it held "the governments of Syria and Lebanon responsible for any violence or provocation towards Israel that emanates from their respective territories."
The incidents erupted as dozens of young demonstrators crossed a Lebanese army cordon to approach the barbed-wire fence marking the border and started to hurl rocks at Israeli soldiers on the other side.
The troops responded with gunfire, security officials said.
Dozens of busses were used to ferry men, women and children from around Lebanon, which is estimated to host between 300,000 and 400,000 Palestinians, most of them in 12 crowded and heavily armed refugee camps, to the border area.
An Israeli army spokesman said several dozen young demonstrators had massed near the border, shouting: "By our soul, our blood, we sacrifice ourselves for you, Palestine."
Shortly beforehand, the Lebanese army tried to disperse the crowd by firing into the air.
The aim of the protest was "to remind younger generations born outside the homeland that the land of their parents and grandparents was stolen by the Jews," said Ayad Abu al-Aynayn, one of the rally's organizers.
The area around the Israeli side of the border is a closed military zone out of bounds to civilians, according to Israeli authorities.
The organizers of the rally told AFP that Hizbullah had financed the event.
The rally was to mourn the anniversary of the 1948 creation of the Jewish state which the Palestinians term the "Nakba," or catastrophe.
Source: Agence France Presse
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