Protests on Gaza’s border with Israel turn deadly

THEY ran up the hill to burn tyres or cut the coils of barbed wire that mark the start of Israel’s frontier with Gaza. They came down on stretchers, bleeding from leg wounds: seven the first hour, nine the next. A westerly wind blew acrid smoke into Israel. Tear-gas canisters whizzed overhead into Gaza while kites sailed out, dangling cans of burning fuel meant to ignite the farms across the fence. Sniper rifles cracked, men shouted, ambulances blared.

Such was the scene at Malaka, in northeastern Gaza, and at points all along the armistice line with Israel. This week is the climax of two months of protests by the strip’s 2m residents. Monday was the bloodiest day yet. By mid-afternoon Israeli soldiers had killed more than 50 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, the highest single-day toll since the Gaza-Israel war of 2014. Around 2,000 others were hurt.