Soldier shot, critically hurt in Gaza border clash; 41 Palestinians injured

Major clashes broke out along the Gaza border throughout Saturday, with one Palestinian assailant opening fire at an Israeli border guard from point-blank range, critically wounding him, Border Police said.

At least 41 rioters were injured by Israeli troops during the hostilities, two of them critically, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

One of the critically hurt Gazans was a 13-year-old boy, Palestinian health officials said.

In one incident during the day, as seen in video footage widely shared on social media, a group of young Palestinian men could be seen running up to a small hole in a concrete border wall that an Israeli border guard was using as a shooting position and attempting to destroy his gun, hitting it with a pipe, throwing a rock at it and attempting to wrest it away.

At one point, a man with a pistol ran up to the hole in the wall and fired a number of shots through the hole, hitting the border guard.

The Border Police officer was taken by helicopter to Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center in critical condition, police said.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz told Channel 13 news that Israel “will not accept any harm to our forces. The incidents at the fence are grave and we will respond to them.”

The Israeli military said in a statement that soldiers had confronted hundreds of rioters near the border fence in the northern Strip. Alongside tear gas, soldiers used Ruger bullets, a smaller form of live fire that is less lethal than standard-issue rounds under certain circumstances.

“Israel Defense Force soldiers are prepared and are utilizing riot dispersal means, as well as Ruger fire when necessary,” the army said.

Israeli military officials did not immediately comment on the incident.

In additional videos that were streamed by Palestinian journalists on the scene throughout the afternoon and early evening, hundreds of Gazans could be seen approaching the barrier. Some Palestinians seemed to attempt to clamber onto the fence, while others huddled alongside a concrete barrier.

Another angle of the incident on the Gaza border shows a Palestinian apparently shooting with a handgun through the hole in the border wall, before the others try to snatch the IDF soldier’s rifle. pic.twitter.com/ko69mHH4QW

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) August 21, 2021

Gaza factions had organized the Saturday protest in al-Malika Refugee Camp near the border with Israel as a part of a series of activities to pressure Israel, announcing its plans on Wednesday. The Israel Defense Forces sent reinforcements to the border on Thursday, though it appeared to have insufficiently anticipated the extent of the violence planned for this weekend.

“Our mobilizing masses have come to announce that the path of the Sword of Jerusalem is renewed,” said senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, using the terror group’s name for the May fighting between Israel and Hamas. Al-Hayya serves as the group’s deputy Gaza chief.

The…