REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Israeli troops fired on hundreds of Gaza protesters who stormed a border fence on Friday, killing three and wounding more than 300, according to The New York Times. A Hamas leader reportedly told the Palestinian demonstrators “not to fear death [and] to welcome martyrdom.” The border protest, called the Great Return March, is now in its fifth week. The Gaza health ministry said that three people died Friday from gunshot wounds in the head, and 350 others were wounded. Two Palestinians reportedly approached the border fence with guns, and “one fired at least seven rounds at Israeli soldiers[.]” Some protesters were also trying to cross the border for the first time, according to witnesses and Israeli officials. In the first four weeks of the protests, at least 40 people died. The Israeli Defense Forces tweeted that they conducted airstrikes targeting six Hamas targets in Gaza later on Friday, saying they were in “response to the terror activity & mass infiltration attempt[.]”