Demonstrator hurls rocks at Israeli troops on Gaza border
Demonstrator hurls rocks at Israeli troops on Gaza borderReuters

About 5,300 Palestinian Arabs arrived at the border between Israel and Gaza on Friday as part of the weekly “March of the Return” protests.

Several hundred of the rioters approached the fence and threw rocks and explosives at security forces. The IDF used riot dispersal means and live fire.

The Hamas-run “health ministry” in Gaza announced that 55 rioters were injured, 29 of them as a result of live fire.

The “March of the Return” protests along the Gaza border have been going on every Friday since March of 2018 and in recent weeks have been more violent than in previous weeks.

Last week, two Palestinian Arabs were killed by Israeli fire in the weekly clashes. Hamas threatened to retaliate for the deaths, saying that Israel will "bear full responsibility for this crime."

Two weeks ago, an IDF soldier was lightly injured during the violence.

The IDF has raised its level of alert in recent days out of concern that the terrorist organizations in Gaza will expand the violence ahead of the elections on Tuesday.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)