Twenty-five Arab rioters were killed and roughly 500 more were wounded Monday after clashes erupted along the Gaza-Israel border ahead of the opening ceremony for the new US embassy in Jerusalem, Fox News reported.
Rioters threw stones and burning tires at Israeli soldiers stationed along the border to prevent infiltrations into Israeli territory.
Israeli security personnel opened fire on stone-throwers and rioters who approached the Israeli security fence. According to Gaza health officials, 25 rioters were killed and some 500 more wounded during the riots Monday.
One rioter, identified by Gaza health officials as 21-year-old Anas Qudeih, was shot and killed during clashes east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Gaza officials later said that 24 more rioters had died.
More than 10,000 Gazans have already gathered at sites along the border, but Israeli security officials expect those numbers to swell as the US embassy unveiling ceremony approaches. The ceremony is set to begin at 4:00 p.m. Jerusalem time.
Seventy-nine Gaza rioters have been killed since the beginning of the riots, dubbed the “March of Return”, on March 30th. The mass-demonstrations kicked off six weeks of violent clashes along the Israel-Gaza border, culminating in a massive “Nakba Day”.
Nakba, Arabic for “disaster”, is the term used by Hamas and other anti-Israel groups in the Palestinian Authority and Gaza in reference to the anniversary of Israel’s establishment. Monday marks the 70th anniversary on the Gregorian calendar of the establishment of the State of Israel.
Hamas leaders have called on the rioters to break through Israel’s security fence along the Gaza border and infiltrate into Israeli territory en masse.
