Gaza border riots
Gaza border riotsReuters

Some 1,400 Palestinian Arabs demonstrated on Friday in several locations along the Gaza border, as has been the case every Friday since March of 2018.

IDF troops responded by using riot control measures.

The Hamas-run “health ministry” in Gaza reported that 40 people were injured during the demonstrations.

Meanwhile, IDF soldiers arrested two suspects who crossed the security fence in southern Gaza Strip. One of them was carrying a knife.

The suspects were transferred to security forces for interrogation.

The riots come a day after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu approved a series of steps to ease restrictions on Gaza as part of his efforts to reach an agreement with the Hamas terrorist organization and to prevent the financial collapse of the Palestinian Authority.

According to a Kan 11 News report, Netanyahu had agreed to remove items from the "blacklist" of goods banned from entering Gaza, expand the export basket, and increase the number of merchants allowed to enter Israel from the Hamas-controlled enclave.

Among the 18 items removed from the "blacklist" were steel cables for large fishing boats banned for fear that they would be used for transportation within underground tunnels, and fertilizer for agriculture that had previously been banned. In addition, the export of iron doors, aluminum housewares, wipes and toys was permitted.

The age over which Gazan merchants would be permitted to enter Israel was lowered from 35 to 25. In practice, of the 5,000 merchants authorized to enter Israel, only 3,300 enter; Out of an export quota of 100 trucks per day only 30 actually enter Israel. Of the 25,000 meters of steel cables allowed to the Gaza Strip, only half were requested, and despite the approval they received to export plastic, the exportation of the cables has not yet begun.

Last week, Israel reached an agreement for a truce with Hamas. The deal would soften economic sanctions on Gaza in exchange for an end to incendiary bomb attacks on Israeli border towns and farm land.

(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.)