Clashes erupted this morning along the Israel and Palestine border. Today is the 63rd anniversary of the development of Israel as a country. Pro-Palestine protesters and Israeli forces are said to have clashed in multiple locations and clashes have erupted along the Lebanon/Israel border as well. There’s no official count on how many people were killed as a result of the clashes, but it is reported that at least four people have been killed and more than 70 injured. Read more after the jump.
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Clashes erupted between pro-Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces in multiple locations along the country’s borders Sunday as tensions flared on a Palestinian mourning day marking the birth of the Jewish state.
Syrian state television said four protesters were killed by Israeli gunfire in the Golan Heights area, where Israeli’s military said dozens were wounded.
At least two people were killed and 20 others were injured in clashes along the border with Lebanon, officials said. And the Israeli military was attempting to push back demonstrators near the Gaza border, where medical sources said at least 70 people had been injured.
Large clashes also broke out between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians near the Qalandia checkpoint, which separates the West Bank from Jerusalem. Some protesters hurled rocks. Israel’s military met approaching protesters with volleys of tear gas and rubber-bullet fire.
The conflicts broke out on “Nakba Day.” Nakba, meaning catastrophe in Arabic, marks the period when more than 700,000 Arabs were displaced from their homes during the fighting following the creation of Israel in 1948.
Israeli soldiers fired warning shots in the air after dozens of Syrians broke through the border fence and entered the Golan Heights, an Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman said.
Military spokeswoman Col. Avital Leibovich said she did not have information on casualties.
“The Syrian regime (was) attempting to divert world attention from their brutal crackdown and to incite violence on the Israel-Syrian border,” she said.
Syrian state television showed protesters using Palestinian flags to fan an injured victim lying on the ground.
Different accounts were emerging Sunday of clashes along the Israel-Lebanon border, where ambulances stood by as the steady crackle of gunfire filled the air.
Lebanon’s military said two were killed and 20 people were injured. Haydar Daqmak, a Hezbollah official in southern Lebanon, said four Palestinians were killed and 37 were injured.
IDF spokesman Gen. Yoav Mordechai told CNN affiliate Channel 2 that dozens of men had broken through a crossroad and entered the Erez crossing near Gaza. The Israeli military was trying to push back demonstrators using live ammunition and anti-demonstration weapons, he said.
Medical sources reported that 70 people had been injured there, and 15 of them were in critical condition.
CNN