Gaza crowds surge at Israel border fence, 1 dead
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli troops fired on Gazans surging toward Israel's border fence Friday, killing one person but leaving intact the fragile two-day-old cease-fire between Hamas and the Jewish state.
The truce, which calls for an end to Gaza rocket fire on Israel and Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, came after eight days of cross-border fighting, the bloodiest between Israel and Hamas in four years.
Hundreds of Palestinians approached the border fence Friday in several locations in southern Gaza, testing expectations Israel would no longer enforce a 300-meter-wide (300-yard-wide) no-go zone on the Palestinian side of the fence that was meant to prevent infiltrations into Israel. In the past, Israeli soldiers routinely opened fire on those who crossed into the zone.
In one incident captured by Associated Press video, several dozen Palestinians, most of them young men, approached the fence, coming close to a group of Israeli soldiers standing on the other side.
Some Palestinians briefly talked to the soldiers, while others appeared to be taunting them with chants of "God is Great" and "Morsi, Morsi," in praise of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, whose mediation led to the truce.
At one point, a soldier shouted in Hebrew, "Go there, before I shoot you," and pointed away from the fence, toward Gaza. The soldier then dropped to one knee, assuming a firing position. Eventually, a burst of automatic fire was heard, but it was not clear whether any of the casualties were from this incident.
Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said a 20-year-old man was killed and 19 people were wounded by Israeli fire near the border.
During the incidents, Hamas security tried to defuse the situation and keep the crowds away from the fence.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas official at the ongoing negotiations in Cairo, told The Associated Press that the violence would have no effect on the ceasefire.
The crowds were mainly made up of young men but also included farmers hoping to once again farm lands in the buffer zone. Speaking by phone from the buffer zone, 19-year-old Ali Abu Taimah said he and his father were checking three acres of family land that have been fallow for several years.
"When we go to our land, we are telling the occupation (Israel) that we are not afraid at all," he said.
Israel's military said roughly 300 Palestinians approached the security fence at different points, tried to damage it and cross into Israel. Soldiers fired warning shots in the air, but after the Palestinians refused to move back, troops fired at their legs, the military said. A Palestinian infiltrated into Israel during the unrest, but was returned to Gaza, it said.
The truce allowed both Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step back from the brink of a full-fledged war. Over eight days, Israel's aircraft carried out some 1,500 strikes on Hamas-linked targets, while Gaza fighters fired roughly the same number of rockets at Israel.
The fighting killed 166 Palestinians, including scores of civilians, and six Israelis.
In Cairo, Egypt is hosting separate talks with Israeli and Hamas envoys on the next phase of the cease-fire - a new border deal for blockaded Gaza. Hamas demands an end to border restrictions, while Israel insists Hamas halt weapons smuggling to Gaza.
A poll Friday showed about half of Israelis thinks their government should have continued its Gaza offensive.
The independent Maagar Mohot poll showed 49 percent of respondents felt Israel should have kept pursuing squads that fire rockets into Israel, 31 percent supported the decision to stop and 20 percent had no opinion. Twenty-nine percent thought Israel should have sent ground troops into Gaza. The poll of 503 respondents had an error margin of 4.5 percentage points.
The same survey showed Netanyahu's Likud Party and electoral partner Israel Beiteinu losing some support, but his hard-line bloc was still favored to form the next government after Jan. 22 elections.
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Associated Press writers Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City and Amy Teibel in Jerusalem contributed reporting.
The truce, which calls for an end to Gaza rocket fire on Israel and Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, came after eight days of cross-border fighting, the bloodiest between Israel and Hamas in four years.
Hundreds of Palestinians approached the border fence Friday in several locations in southern Gaza, testing expectations Israel would no longer enforce a 300-meter-wide (300-yard-wide) no-go zone on the Palestinian side of the fence that was meant to prevent infiltrations into Israel. In the past, Israeli soldiers routinely opened fire on those who crossed into the zone.
In one incident captured by Associated Press video, several dozen Palestinians, most of them young men, approached the fence, coming close to a group of Israeli soldiers standing on the other side.
Some Palestinians briefly talked to the soldiers, while others appeared to be taunting them with chants of "God is Great" and "Morsi, Morsi," in praise of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, whose mediation led to the truce.
At one point, a soldier shouted in Hebrew, "Go there, before I shoot you," and pointed away from the fence, toward Gaza. The soldier then dropped to one knee, assuming a firing position. Eventually, a burst of automatic fire was heard, but it was not clear whether any of the casualties were from this incident.
Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said a 20-year-old man was killed and 19 people were wounded by Israeli fire near the border.
During the incidents, Hamas security tried to defuse the situation and keep the crowds away from the fence.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas official at the ongoing negotiations in Cairo, told The Associated Press that the violence would have no effect on the ceasefire.
The crowds were mainly made up of young men but also included farmers hoping to once again farm lands in the buffer zone. Speaking by phone from the buffer zone, 19-year-old Ali Abu Taimah said he and his father were checking three acres of family land that have been fallow for several years.
"When we go to our land, we are telling the occupation (Israel) that we are not afraid at all," he said.
Israel's military said roughly 300 Palestinians approached the security fence at different points, tried to damage it and cross into Israel. Soldiers fired warning shots in the air, but after the Palestinians refused to move back, troops fired at their legs, the military said. A Palestinian infiltrated into Israel during the unrest, but was returned to Gaza, it said.
The truce allowed both Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step back from the brink of a full-fledged war. Over eight days, Israel's aircraft carried out some 1,500 strikes on Hamas-linked targets, while Gaza fighters fired roughly the same number of rockets at Israel.
The fighting killed 166 Palestinians, including scores of civilians, and six Israelis.
In Cairo, Egypt is hosting separate talks with Israeli and Hamas envoys on the next phase of the cease-fire - a new border deal for blockaded Gaza. Hamas demands an end to border restrictions, while Israel insists Hamas halt weapons smuggling to Gaza.
A poll Friday showed about half of Israelis thinks their government should have continued its Gaza offensive.
The independent Maagar Mohot poll showed 49 percent of respondents felt Israel should have kept pursuing squads that fire rockets into Israel, 31 percent supported the decision to stop and 20 percent had no opinion. Twenty-nine percent thought Israel should have sent ground troops into Gaza. The poll of 503 respondents had an error margin of 4.5 percentage points.
The same survey showed Netanyahu's Likud Party and electoral partner Israel Beiteinu losing some support, but his hard-line bloc was still favored to form the next government after Jan. 22 elections.
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Associated Press writers Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City and Amy Teibel in Jerusalem contributed reporting.
"Â Israeli troops fired on Gazans surging toward Israel's border fence Friday, killing one person but leaving intact the fragile two-day-old cease-fire between Hamas and the Jewish state."
Hmmm, so they aren't lifting the siege of Gaza like they said they would in the cease fire....not surprised!
It's a telling tale that israel says they will no longer enforce a no-go-zone and then shoot and kill someone who went in the no-longer-no-go-zone.
the guys in the picture look like they're dancing together and another guy wants to cut in. well they do regularly celebrate things by shooting AK47 rounds in the air over there
why is is Hamas seems to always have money for weapons.... but it's people live like the poorest of the poor?
There is no such thing as a Palestinian.
 @RalphCramden Were then no native Americans either when we first came here....after all it was not america until we named it that.
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Probably one of the most ignorant posts I have ever read!
 @B Smizzle Native Americans have been an identifiably separate group for thousands of years based on anthropological evidence. The "Palestianians" were created out of thin air for Arab propaganda reasons when the Arab nations launched a genocidal invasion of Israel in 1967 - and lost (a.k.a. the Six Day War.) There is nothing that differentiates the "Palestinians" from their former Jordanian and Egyptian countrymen prior to 1967 (and certainly not before Israel's independence in 1948.)
 @B SmizzleÂ
Don't like facts? Then don't read them.
Â
Ransom Stoddard: You're not going to use the story, Mr. Scott?
Maxwell Scott: No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.Â
 @B SmizzleÂ
My English is bad (English is capitalized)?
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Talk about the pit calling the kettle black. This is a classic example.
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I can't understand what you are talking about.
 @RalphCramden Yes there is....there was an indigenous people living on the land that is now Israel, you are saying they simply did not exist.  There were indigenous people here too before it was called america....did they not exist either? <---- (does that make you happy??????)
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"You never asked a question. You made a statement"
What did I say
"Were then no native Americans either when we first came here"
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Oh wait, I didn't put a question mark behind what did I say so I must not have asked a question again did I
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Answer the question....must suck to know you can't back up your talking points!
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Oh and because you lack basic english here! Â Sorry, guess I did ask a question and proved you wrong again!
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http://www.wholephonics.com/images/190-201_B_new.cwk_WP_.pdf
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Hmmm, what, were are how you start a question....
 @B SmizzleÂ
There is no correlation between American indians and the so called palestinians.
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You never asked a question. You made a statement. Questions end with a question mark. There is no question mark in any of your posts.
 @RalphCramden "Don't like facts? Then don't read them'
What facts....all you did was bring up a talking point. Â I noticed how you totally avoided my question about Native Americans.....Laughable!
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Answer the question!
 @RalphCramden what's your point ralph?
 @djshimonÂ
No point. Just stating facts.
@RalphCramden .......however there is such a thing as lunatic muslims.
 @Rob C 503  @RalphCramden  "lunatic muslims" Redundant.
@ClackaSam Too true.!
 @RalphCramden Now this I can agree you on.