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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element" dir="ltr"> <font
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href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/bloody-friday-gaza-marks-six-months-protests">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/bloody-friday-gaza-marks-six-months-protests</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Bloody Friday as Gaza marks six months
of protests</h1>
<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/maureen-clare-murphy">Maureen
Clare - </a></span><span class="field field-blog"></span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2018-09-29T06:05:48+00:00">29 September 2018</span></span>
</p>
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dir="ltr">
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<figure id="file-69856"><source media="(min-width:
72rem)"><figcaption><small><span></span></small></figcaption></figure>
<p>Friday marked what Gaza’s health ministry <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/100005028168199/posts/1098183007025961/">described</a>
as the single bloodiest day of the Great March of
Return protests since <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-slaughters-palestinians-marching-return">14
May</a>, when Israeli occupation forces <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/gazas-bloody-monday/24646">fatally
injured more than 60 Palestinians</a>.</p>
<p>Seven Palestinians, including two children, were
slain on Friday, two days shy of the six-month
anniversary of the protest launch.</p>
<p>The two children were identified as Nasir Azmi
Musbah, 11, shot in the head east of Khan Younis, and
Muhammad Nayif Yusif al-Hawm, 14, shot in the chest
east of Bureij.</p>
<div id="file-69946">
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<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Israeli forces shot
14-year-old Mohammed Nayef Yousef al-Houm with
live ammunition at 5 pm local time on September
28 near the Gaza perimeter fence near Bureij
refugee camp. He sustained a gunshot wound to
the chest and was pronounced dead in hospital at
5:30 pm. <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GazaReturnMarch?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GazaReturnMarch</a>
<a href="https://t.co/D8g3wIlAyx">pic.twitter.com/D8g3wIlAyx</a></p>
— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) <a
href="https://twitter.com/DCIPalestine/status/1046024444764991489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September
29, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<div id="file-69951">
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<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Israeli forces killed
11-year-old Nasser Azmi Khalil Musbeh at 6:15 pm
local time near the Gaza perimeter fence in Khan
Younis. He was shot in the head with live ammo,
killing him instantly. He was reportedly
150-200m (490-650ft) away from the fence when
killed. <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GazaReturnMarch?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GazaReturnMarch</a>
<a href="https://t.co/spg1Uz2tv3">pic.twitter.com/spg1Uz2tv3</a></p>
— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) <a
href="https://twitter.com/DCIPalestine/status/1046024447491272704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September
29, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<div id="file-69956">
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<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Israeli forces or settlers
have killed at least 44 Palestinian children so
far in 2018. The vast majority of these
fatalities, 38, were Palestinian children from
the Gaza Strip.</p>
— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) <a
href="https://twitter.com/DCIPalestine/status/1046025701634322432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September
29, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>An adult was also killed in Bureij, in central Gaza:
Muhammad Ashraf al-Awawdeh, 25, shot with a live
bullet to the chest. And in southern Khan Younis,
Muhammad Ali Muhammad Inshasi, 18, was shot in the
stomach.</p>
<p>Three were killed east of Gaza City: Iyad Khalil
Ahmad al-Shaer, 18, shot in the chest; Muhammad Bassam
Muhammad Shakhsa, 24, shot in the head; and Muhammad
Walid Haniyeh, 32, shot in the face.</p>
<p>More than 250 Palestinians were injured during
Friday’s protests, 163 of them by live fire, including
20 children, <a href="http://mezan.org/post/26963">according
to</a> the Gaza-based human rights group Al Mezan.</p>
<p>One paramedic and four media workers were among those
injured, including journalist Haneen Mahmoud Suleiman
Baroud, 23, who was hit directly in the head with a
tear gas canister, Al Mezan stated.</p>
<div id="file-69861">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">— Quds News Network
(@QudsNen) <a
href="https://twitter.com/QudsNen/status/1045767393467936770?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September
28, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>A <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1045734780149673987">graphic
video</a> published by Palestinian media outlets
shows the moments after a man was shot in the back of
his head during protests east of Gaza City on Friday:</p>
<div id="file-69886">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="rtl" lang="ar">"رصاصة في الرأس"... شاهد|
لحظة قنص جنود الاحتلال لأحد المتظاهرين شرق مدينة
غزّة، اليوم <a href="https://t.co/0LMWDGMW5h">pic.twitter.com/0LMWDGMW5h</a></p>
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1045734780149673987?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September
28, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>The man was among a group including women and
children waving flags near one of the fences along the
Gaza-Israel boundary.</p>
<p>It was not immediately clear whether the injured man
was among those who had died of their wounds.</p>
<p>Palestinian media also published a video said to show
a paramedic mourning over the body of her brother, the
slain child Nasir Azmi Misbah, in a hospital morgue:</p>
<div id="file-69866">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="rtl" lang="ar">صدمة أخواته المسعفات.. شاهد
| لحظة التعرف على الطفل الشهيد ناصر مصبح ( 12عام
) الذي استشهد برصاص الاحتلال شرق خانيونس. <a
href="https://t.co/5ZDWOq4jRr">pic.twitter.com/5ZDWOq4jRr</a></p>
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1045725463316967424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September
28, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>Al Mezan blamed the “continued silence of the
international community” for encouraging the
continuation of the killings “without any fear of
prosecution.”</p>
<p>These photos of 11-year-old Nasir Azmi Musbah were
shared on social media following his death:</p>
<div id="file-69896">
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<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="rtl" lang="ar">أحد طلاب مدرسة المهاجرين
الشرعية .. <br>
الطالب الخلوق المتفوق الحافظ لكتاب الله الشهيد
بإذن الله / ناصر عزمي مصبح .. <br>
والذي ظل مجهول الهوية لساعات <a
href="https://t.co/3TsgGvNIcF">pic.twitter.com/3TsgGvNIcF</a></p>
— محمد سعيد نشوان #فلسطين (@MohamdNashwan) <a
href="https://twitter.com/MohamdNashwan/status/1045748090924347392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September
28, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<h2>150 killed during protests</h2>
<p>Israel’s use of deadly force against unarmed
protesters on Friday is characteristic of its actions
throughout the Great March of Return, during which <a
href="http://mezan.org/post/26963">more than 150
Palestinians have been killed</a>, including <a
href="https://twitter.com/DCIPalestine/status/1046024443468943360">31
children</a>, three persons with disabilities, three
paramedics and two journalists.</p>
<p>More than 10,000 have been injured and required
hospitalization, around half of them <a
href="https://twitter.com/ChrisGunness/status/1045994558943907840">wounded
by live fire</a>. There have been <a
href="https://twitter.com/ChrisGunness/status/1045995477156732929">77
cases</a> of injuries requiring amputation, among
them 14 children and one woman. Twelve patients have
been paralyzed due to spinal cord injury and two of
them have died, a UN spokesperson <a
href="https://twitter.com/ChrisGunness/status/1045995785698054144">stated
Saturday</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to those killed during protests, 52 other
Palestinians in Gaza have been slain by Israeli
occupation forces since 30 March and Israel is
withholding the bodies of 10 of them.</p>
<p>Lethal fire against mass protests in Gaza is the
subject of an ongoing investigation appointed by the
United Nations Human Rights Council, which was <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/no-evidence-single-gaza-protester-killed-israel-was-armed">told
by human rights groups this week</a> that there is
no evidence that a single protester killed by Israel
during the Great March of Return was armed.</p>
<p>Israel’s violence has also generated an <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/icc-warns-israeli-leaders-over-gaza-killings">unprecedented
warning</a> from the chief prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court, who stated that Israeli
leaders may face trial for the killings of unarmed
demonstrators.</p>
<p>The prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, met with Palestinian
Authority foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki in New York
during the UN General Assembly this week:</p>
<div id="file-69871">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ICC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ICC</a>
Prosecutor <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FatouBensouda?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FatouBensouda</a>
meets with H.E. Riyad al-Maliki, Foreign
Minister of <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Palestine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Palestine</a>
in the margins of <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNGA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UNGA</a>
<a
href="https://twitter.com/Palestine_UN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Palestine_UN</a>
<a
href="https://twitter.com/PalMissionNL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PalMissionNL</a>
<a href="https://t.co/L4gMnmqTK1">pic.twitter.com/L4gMnmqTK1</a></p>
— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) <a
href="https://twitter.com/IntlCrimCourt/status/1045418499366113281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September
27, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<h2>Gaza economy “in free fall”</h2>
<p>The World Bank <a
href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/09/25/cash-strapped-gaza-and-an-economy-in-collapse-put-palestinian-basic-needs-at-risk?CID=MENA_TT_MENA_EN_EXT">stated
this week</a> that Gaza’s economy is “in free fall”
after more than a decade of blockade, successive
Israeli military assaults and internal division
between Palestinian factions.</p>
<p>The Gaza economy shrank by six percent in the first
quarter of this year, “with indications of further
deterioration since then.”</p>
<p>“The result is an alarming situation with every
second person living in poverty and the unemployment
rate for its overwhelmingly young population at over
70 percent,” the World Bank added.</p>
<p>“The economic and social situation in Gaza has been
declining for over a decade but has deteriorated
exponentially in recent months and has reached a
critical point,” Marina Wes, director for the West
Bank and Gaza, stated.</p>
<p>“Increased frustration is feeding into the increased
tensions which have already started spilling over into
unrest and setting back the human development of the
region’s large youth population.”</p>
<p>The UN’s Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov <a
href="https://unsco.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/security_council_briefing_-_20_september_2018_2334.pdf">told
the Security Council last week</a> that “the power
crisis in Gaza is coming to a head” as the last stocks
of emergency fuel to operate critical health, water
and sanitation facilities delivered to Gaza run out
amid electricity shortages of around 20 hours per day.</p>
<p>He added that essential medicines “are at critically
low levels, with almost half of essential medicines at
less than one-month’s supply and 40 percent completely
depleted.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile the commissioner-general of UNRWA, the UN
agency for Palestine refugees, <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/unrwa-chief-says-money-will-run-out-in-october-1.6500154">said
on Tuesday</a> that the body has only enough funding
to keep schools and clinics in operation through
mid-October.</p>
<p>“We still need approximately $185 million to be able
to ensure that all of our services, education system,
health care, relief and social services and our
emergency work in Syria and Gaza in particular can
continue until the end of the year,” Pierre Krähenbühl
added.</p>
<p>Two-thirds of Gaza’s population of two million are
refugees from lands on the other side of the boundary
with Israel. More than half of Gaza’s residents
receive food aid packages from UNRWA, whose food aid
budget will be <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-believes-hamas-gearing-up-for-war-as-gaza-crisis-deepens-1.6513882">exhausted
by the end of the year</a>.</p>
<p>Currently, the UN provides food aid packages to 1.3
million people in Gaza, up from just 130,000 in 2005.</p>
<p>The US <a
href="https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/08/285648.htm">announced</a>
last month that it would stop funding UNRWA after
freezing $300 million in aid in January, throwing the
agency into unprecedented financial crisis.</p>
<p>The US has also decided to <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/us-slashes-aid-gaza-hospitals-run-out-fuel">cut
$200 million more</a> in bilateral aid to the West
Bank and Gaza.</p>
<p>Meanwhile proceedings against the US were <a
href="https://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/176/176-20180928-PRE-01-00-EN.pdf">initiated
at the International Court of Justice</a> in The
Hague on Friday over the relocation of its embassy
from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which the Palestinian
Authority in Ramallah says is a breach of the Vienna
Convention.</p>
<div id="file-69876">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Palestine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Palestine</a>
is taking the US to the <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ICJ?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ICJ</a>
on the ground that moving the US embassy to
Jerusalem violates the Vienna Convention on
Diplomatic Relations. Both states have acceded
to the Optional Protocol. Interesting! <a
href="https://t.co/9IXNgINFGF">https://t.co/9IXNgINFGF</a>
h/t <a
href="https://twitter.com/MarionHouk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MarionHouk</a></p>
— Kevin Jon Heller (@kevinjonheller) <a
href="https://twitter.com/kevinjonheller/status/1045758841697308680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September
28, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div id="file-69881">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Woah, Palestine v. US at
the ICJ <a href="https://t.co/QBU4obVVTh">pic.twitter.com/QBU4obVVTh</a></p>
— Alonso Gurmendi (@Alonso_GD) <a
href="https://twitter.com/Alonso_GD/status/1045753281702752263?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September
28, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p><em>This story was updated to include statistics
about injuries and to correct the number of children
killed during Gaza protests since 30 March.</em></p>
<br>
</article>
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