Article content continued

Photo by Khalil Hamra/AP

When the Gazans came, many reportedly out in large family groups with children, Sinwar added for good measure that they would “eat the livers of those besieging” them. He actually encouraged them to feast on the bodily organs of Israelis.

Since then, 20 Palestinians participating in the still ongoing march activity have reportedly been killed by IDF responses, mostly sniper fire. Scores more have been injured by riot-control techniques, rubber bullets and tear gas. The dead include Hamas fighters, whose portraits have been featured in Gaza media reports where they are hailed as “martyrs” in the ongoing struggle to liberate all of Palestine from the Zionist colonizers.

These particular martyrs were reported by the IDF to have been at or very near the fence with Israel, hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails at soldiers, or reportedly attempting to infiltrate Israel. They ignored warning shots, flares and the firing of tear gas canisters. Each fatality will be carefully investigated.

Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

The IDF estimates that approximately 41,000 Gazans participated in the march, with most doing so peacefully and at a safe distance from the fence. The goal of Hamas organizers and fighters, however, was clearly to provoke an Israeli military reaction.

Israel’s critics claim the IDF fired recklessly on a “peaceful protest,” massacring innocents. Thing is, peaceful protests do not encourage participants to overrun an international border, or use weapons, while threatening to conquer the country and murder its people. Thousands of Israeli civilians live within a few hundred metres of this fence, in agricultural settlements that have been undisputedly part of Israeli territory since 1948. Peaceful protests are not organized by terrorist organizations and led by terrorist leaders, some of whom show up with Molotov cocktails and other weapons.