Thousands of Palestinians rallied at the Gaza-Israel border on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of a surge of protests, facing off against Israeli forces massed across the frontier.
Health officials in the Gaza Strip said 33 Palestinians were injured. They said ten people sustained injuries from live fire coming from Israeli troops, who also fired tear gas as dozens of protesters approached the fence.
Gaza medics said that one Palestinian man was killed by Israeli fire before dawn on Saturday near the boundary.
Confrontations have mounted this week ahead of the commemoration of the 'Great March of Return' protests, which began on March 30, 2018. A Gaza rocket attack wounded seven Israelis north of Tel Aviv on Monday and, in response, Israel launched a wave of air strikes and ramped up its forces at the border.
The protests have turned deadly in the past and Egyptian mediators were working to avoid further bloodshed and ease Israeli restrictions on Gaza.
The protests call for the lifting of a security blockade, and for Palestinians to have the right to return to land from which their families fled or were forced to flee during Israel’s founding in 1948.
March 30 also marks "Land Day", an annual commemoration of the deaths of six Arab citizens of Israel killed by Israeli security forces during demonstrations over government land confiscations in northern Israel in 1976.
Loudspeakers on the Gaza side of the border blasted national songs and medical field units were set up in case of injuries as Gazans flowed to the various protest sites under heavy rain.
The border protests have turned into a standoff between Gazans and Israeli troops.
About 200 Gazans have been killed by Israeli troops since the protests started, according to Palestinian Health Ministry figures.
