A wounded demonstrator is evacuated during clashes with Israeli troops at a protest at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip, April 27, 2018. (photo credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA / REUTERS)
The Israel Air Force struck six “terror” targets belonging to Hamas “naval forces” in the Gaza Strip Friday night, according to a statement by the IDF Spokesman’s office.
Palestinian journalists reported several injuries in the attacks, and a spokesman for the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said that one Palestinian, Khalil Na’im Mustafa Atallah, 22, was killed.
The strikes targeted boats in Gaza’s port that were preparing to receive supplies for the ongoing “Great March of Return” protests, the Hamas interior Ministry said.
The IDF said that the airstrikes were a response to attempts to breach Israel’s border fence with Gaza at the protest earlier Friday.
The Israeli military said 12,000-14,000 Gazans participated in the latest of the month-long protests and that some protesters attempted to breach the border fence separating Gaza from Israel.
Photos released by the IDF show Gazan protesters attempting to dismantle the fence. Protesters threw stones, burned tires and removed coils of barbed wire that had been placed near the border with Israel.
Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and hundreds, including a Palestinian journalist, were injured on Friday.
“The IDF considers with the utmost gravity the continued attempts by the Hamas terror organization to transform the fence zone into an area of violence and terror,” the IDF said in its statement confirming the airstrikes.
“The reaction to incidents such as those [at the protests] will not be restricted to the fence zone, and the Hamas terror organization will bear responsibility for the consequences throughout Gaza,” the statement said.
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