TEL AVIV – Palestinian rioters raised a Nazi swastika along with a Palestinian flag during the weekly Gaza border riots on Friday, where some 6,000 protesters gathered — many of whom threw rocks, firebombs and explosive devices at IDF forces.
On its Twitter page, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit posted a picture of the swastika underneath a Palestinian flag with a text written in poetry form chastising the move as “sheer hatred” and ending with a promise that Israeli troops would “defend Israel today and every single day.”
Fifty-one Palestinians were injured, 24 of them by IDF live fire, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry reported.
The beginning of the year saw a dramatic spike in violence along the Gaza border with the so-called March of Return protests, with daily airborne incendiary devices being flown over the border, infiltrations and shootings. Hamas and other Gaza-based groups have also increasingly relied on drones and quadcopters to gather intelligence and track IDF movements.
However, in recent weeks the violence has lessened, with the exception of early Thursday morning, which saw the heaviest fighting in weeks after three Israeli soldiers were injured by a Palestinian gunman who tried to infiltrate the area.
The gunman was killed by the IDF and an Israeli officer and two soldiers were evacuated to Soroka hospital in Beersheba. Their condition is stable.