Medics transporting a journalist injured while covering the Friday protests east of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip. (WAFA Images)

RAMALLAH, April 21, 2018 (WAFA) – In four weeks of protests at the Gaza border with Israel as part of the Great Return March, which started on March 30, Land Day, and is expected to reach a climax on May 15, the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) Day, more than 5000 Palestinians were killed and injured by Israeli army gunfire compared to zero Israeli casualties.

For the fourth consecutive Friday, an estimated 10,000 Palestinians have gathered at the border fence. By the end of the day, Israeli army snipers have killed four Palestinians, including 15-year-old Mohammad Ayyoub, from Jabalya, who was shot in the head, injured 729, including 45 children, among them 156 hit by live ammunition, four of them in critical condition, and around 20 shot in the neck and head, as reported by the Ministry of Health.

With the killing of four on Friday, Israeli forces shot and killed a total of 32 Palestinians at the border fence protests in Gaza since March 30, including four children and a journalist. Two more were shot and killed inside the Israeli created buffer zone along the border and their bodies are being withheld by Israel.

In addition, at least 47 health personnel have been injured and 13 ambulances damaged by Israeli fire, according to the Health  Ministry.

The United Nations and the international community have condemned Israel’s use of excessive force against the Palestinian civilian protesters, who did not fire one single bullet at the Israeli forces across the border.

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nikolay Mladenov, expressed outrage over the killing the child, Ayyoub, and called for an investigation.

Mladenov wrote on Twitter: "It is OUTRAGEOUS to shoot at children! How does the killing of a child in #Gaza today help #peace? It doesn’t! It fuels anger and breeds more killing. #Children must be protected from #violence, not exposed to it, not killed! This tragic incident must be investigated."

Concern was also raised at the heavy burden the large number of casualties leaves on Gaza’s already suffering health system.

A report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territories said that the health system in Gaza is on the verge of collapse as a result of the 10-year blockade, the deepening intra-Palestinian political divide, deteriorating energy crisis, inconsistent payment of public sector medical personnel, and growing shortages in medicines and disposables. It said that a large percentage of patients hospitalized since the start of the demonstrations had severe wounds to the lower extremities, requiring complex surgical operations; many of them will have disabilities for life.

“Given the scope of events and the ed capacity of service providers in Gaza, on 19 April, the Humanitarian Coordinator, Jamie McGoldrick, called for the protection of Palestinian demonstrators and for donor support to humanitarian partners, by providing US$5.3 million in immediate funding to meet emergency health, psycho-social and protection needs until 31 May 2018. This funding is required in addition to the over $400 million requested in the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan for interventions in the Gaza Strip,” said OCHA.

M.K.