UPDATE: The IDF Spokesman said Friday afternoon that during the riots of some 300 Palestinians near the border fence in southern Gaza Strip, several rioters damaged the fence and tried to sneak into Israel and therefore were shot in their legs. During the confrontations, IDF forces seized an unarmed Arab crossing into Israel, and returned him to the Gaza Strip.
The Ma’an news agency reported that the Israeli forces killed Anwar Abdul Hadi Qudaih, 20, near the Israeli border in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday morning. Medics said he was hit in the head with a live bullet east of Khan Younis.
Hamas Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said 19 others were wounded by Israeli fire in the border area.
A large group of Gazans entered the Gaza-Israel buffer zone and approached too close to the security fence along the Gazan border, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Sources say that a group of Gazans approached the border, and managed to cut one of the wires or border markings near the security fence.
A relative of the killed man said that he had tried to hang a Hamas flag on the security fence, and this is why he was shot. He added that an Israeli soldier had fired into the air three times before Qudaih was hit in the head by a bullet.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri accused Israel of violating the Egypt-mediated truce and said the group would complain to Cairo. “We will contact the Egyptian mediator to discuss the incident,” he said.
At this point, residents of the south may find themselves under missile fire again, as Hamas will use their provocateurs on the border as an excuse to shoot more missiles. Hamas has said they will complain to the Egyptians about what they claim is a breach of the cease fire.
Of course, since the cease fire, Hamas has shot between 12-20 rockets into Israel, not really needing an excuse to breach the cease fire.
But this is the first incident of Israel responding to a breach on the Gazan’s part.
Since Thursday, a number of Gazan rioters have been injured after they approached the security border with Israel.
The IDF has made is very clear to Gazan residents that they are not allowed to approach the fence, and if they do so, they risk being killed.