GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Thousands of Palestinians marched to Gaza's border with Israel on Friday, and 15 were killed by Israeli fire on the first day of what Hamas organizers said will be six weeks of daily protests against a stifling border blockade.
It was the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas.
Fifteen of the marchers were killed and more than 750 wounded by Israeli fire in clashes along the border fence, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military said thousands of Palestinians threw stones and rolled burning tires toward troops deployed on the other side of the border fence. It accused militants of trying to carry out attacks under the cover of mass protests, saying that in one incident, Palestinian gunmen fired toward soldiers.
"We urge citizens to stay away," said Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, in charge of Israel's southern command. He added that Hamas would be held responsible for the violence.
The large turnout of the flag-waving marchers in the border zone was a testament to Hamas' organizing skills, but it also signaled desperation among Gaza residents after a decade-old border closure. Life in the coastal strip has deteriorated further in recent months, with rising unemployment, grinding poverty and daily blackouts that last for hours.
Ahead of the demonstrations, Israel warned that it would use live ammunition, dropping leaflets saying that anyone who approached within 330 yards of the fence would be in danger. But some Gazans said they did not care if they died.
"I want to be shot," said 22-year-old Yahya Abu Assar. "I don't want this life."
Asmaa al-Katari also said she participated in the march despite the risks because "life is difficult here in Gaza and we have nothing to lose."
The history student said she is a descendant of refugees from what is now Israel's southern Negev Desert. She said her grandfathers had lived in tents as refugees.
"I want to tell the world that the cause of our grandfathers is not dead," she added.
The Israeli military released video Friday showing a row of snipers perched on a high earthen embankment facing the Gaza crowd in one location. And it used a new means of crowd control -- small drones that each dropped several tear-gas canisters on protesters below. People quickly scattered when they saw the drones approaching.
A few hundred yards from the border near Gaza City, a festival atmosphere prevailed as families gathered for picnics. Stalls sold ice cream, smoothies, nuts and sandwiches, even as ambulances screamed past, ferrying the injured.
Gaza resident Ghanem Abdelal, 50, said he hopes the protest "will bring a breakthrough, an improvement, to our life in Gaza." He had taken his family to one of the five protest tent camps near Gaza City where he distributed water bottles to women and children sitting on a mat.
Friday's high death toll and prospects of daily protests in coming weeks have raised concerns about another escalation along the volatile frontier. Israel and the Islamic militant Hamas have fought three cross-border wars in recent years.
The protest campaign is meant to spotlight Palestinian demands for a "right of return" to what is now Israel. A large majority of Gaza's 2 million people are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 Mideast war over Israel's creation.
"Our will in achieving the actual return to our lands is more powerful than jet fighters and a gun," Ahmed Abu Artema, a Gazan social-media activist who spearheaded the border-encampment idea, said by phone Friday. "This march is rightful and will not be used and exploited for political agendas."
RECONCILIATION DOUBT
The planned mass sit-ins on the border also are seen as a new attempt by Hamas to break the border blockade, imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized Gaza from forces loyal to its rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in 2007.
The continued closure has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern.
Other attempts to break the blockade, including wars with Israel and attempts to reconcile with the West Bank-based Abbas, have failed over the years.
The latest Egyptian-led reconciliation efforts collapsed earlier this month, when a bomb targeted but missed Abbas' prime minister and intelligence chief during a visit to Gaza.
Hamas and Abbas traded accusations after the bombing, signaling that any deal on Hamas handing the Gaza government to Abbas is increasingly unlikely.
The Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, said the protests are a signal to Israel and the world that "our people will not accept the continuation of the siege."
Israel and the U.S. expressed concern in recent months about the looming humanitarian crisis in Gaza and appealed to the international community to fund large-scale development projects there, including a desalination plant.
However, such plans appeared to be linked to a deal in which Abbas would take charge in Gaza, and Israel didn't say what it would do if such an arrangement didn't work out.
The United Nations has said Gaza is on the brink of economic collapse.
Late Friday, the Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for "an independent and transparent investigation" into the deadly clashes, and council members urged restraint on both sides.
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said he was disappointed the council didn't condemn what he called a "heinous massacre."
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said the international community shouldn't be taken in by what he called "a well-organized and violent terror-gathering."
The peak of the Gaza protest is supposed to take place May 15, when Palestinians commemorate what they call the Nakba, or catastrophe, the anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence and the 1948 war in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians lost their homes through flight and expulsion.
This year, May 15 is expected to be particularly uproarious. It comes a day after the planned move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, a step that has provoked international criticism and Palestinian anger. It also coincides with the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy fasting month.
Contributing to the charged atmosphere, Friday's protest came as Jews prepared for the start of the Passover holiday Friday evening and as Palestinians observed Land Day. The day commemorates the events of March 30, 1976, when Israeli security forces shot and killed six Arab citizens of Israel during protests over the government's expropriation of Arab-owned land in northern Israel.
At a morgue at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the body of 35-year-old Jihad al-Fourina, who had been shot Friday in the neck, was laid out for his family to collect. Relatives wept outside.
"It's a miserable life, so people go and march on the border," said his cousin Ahmed Afrain. "They have lost faith in the international community, the Arab world, the Palestinian Authority. No one will help them."
Information for this article was contributed by Fares Akram and Karin Laub of The Associated Press; by Loveday Morris and Hazem Balousha of The Washington Post; and by Isabel Kershner and Iyad Abuheweila of The New York Times.
A Section on 03/31/2018