Palestinian media reports that a Palestinian was hit by IDF fire east of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.
By TZVI JOFFREUpdated: FEBRUARY 10, 2019 22:26A Palestinian demonstrator is seen during a protest marking al-Quds Day, (Jerusalem Day), at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip June 8, 2018.(photo credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA / REUTERS)
A Palestinian swam across the marine border between Israel and the Gaza Strip and was arrested by IDF forces on Sunday night. No weapons were found on the suspect. He is being questioned by security forces.Incendiary balloons were launched from Jabalia in the Gaza Strip towards communities on the Gaza border, Palestinian media reported on Sunday.Matters only escalated as a subsequent report said that Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip threw shock grenades at IDF soldiers and burned tires.A Palestinian was hit by IDF fire east of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian reports. In response, forces shot a flare over the northern area of the Strip.Over the weekend, thousands of protesters confronted IDF forces throughout several locations across the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that two teenagers were killed by IDF sniper fire and five Palestinians were injured during the clashes.Palestinians have been staging weekly protests since last March at the border, an enclave controlled by the Islamist militant group Hamas. The enclave's health ministry says that more than 220 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops at the protests. One Israeli soldier has died.Israel says it has no choice but to use deadly force at the protests to defend the frontier from militants trying to destroy the barrier and infiltrate."In the past hour violent demonstrations have been taking place on the security fence, we have been monitoring the demonstrators and documenting some improvised explosive devices that were thrown by some of the demonstrators, injuring several of them in the process," The IDF's Spokesperson's Office commented in a released statement on Friday.Israel and Egypt imposed a security blockade on the enclave after Hamas seized control of it in 2007, which the World Bank says has reduced the local economy to a state of collapse. Israel has fought three wars against Hamas in the past decade.Palestinians say the weekly protests are led by civil society groups demanding an easing of the blockade and recognition of their right to return to homes in Israel. Israel says militants use the demonstrations to threaten the border and provoke violence.
