Time: 10pm (+2GMT)

On 3 May 2019, the 57^th Friday of the Great March of Return (GMR) demonstrations, Israeli forces continued using excessive force in policing unarmed protesters. Killing one protester and wounding 116 others, of them 39 children, four women, four paramedics, and one journalist. 35 of those injured were wounded by live fire, 32 by tear gas canisters, and two are in critical condition.

In separate airstrikes, Israeli jetfighters attacked a Palestinian faction’s site in the Middle Gaza district, killing two and seriously injuring two others.

The documentation by Al Mezan Center for Human Rights shows that on Friday:

• -- At about 6:40pm, Ra’ed Abu Tair, 19, a resident of Khan Younis, was wounded in the stomach from a live bullet at the demonstration in east Khan Younis district. He was rushed to the Gaza European Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead of his injury at 8:30pm on the same day. Abu Tair, who was using crutches at the time he was shot, had been injured in the pelvis with a live bullet on Friday, 26 April 2019, at the demonstration in east Khan Younis.
• -- Khader Mait, 28, a volunteer paramedic, was wounded as he was evacuating casualties in the east of Middle Gaza district.
• -- Mohammed Al-Azbat, 27, also a volunteer paramedic, was wounded in the head with a tear gas canister that hit him directly as he was evacuating casualties in the east of Gaza district.
• -- Sara Asaliya, 24, a third volunteer paramedic, was injured in the left leg with a plastic-coated steel bullet at the demonstration in the east of North Gaza district.
• -- Mohammed Al-Jadili, 35, a volunteer paramedic with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, was injured in the nose with a plastic-coated steel bullet at the demonstration in the east of North Gaza district.
• -- Imad Badwan, 35, a photojournalist to the Al-Araby TV, was wounded in the head from a plastic-coated steel bullet at the demonstration in the east of Gaza district.

At 7:15pm on Friday, Israeli jetfighters fired two missiles into a Palestinian faction’s site in Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the Middle Gaza district. Abdallah Mallouh, 33, a resident of the nearby Al-Nusierat refugee camp, and Alaa’ Al-Boubali, 29, a resident of Al-Maghazi, were killed and two others critically wounded in the airstrike. 

Al Mezan’s documentation shows that from 30 March 2018, Israeli forces have killed 284 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Of the total fatalities, 204 were killed at the protests, including 44 children, two women, three paramedics, two journalists, and eight persons with disability. Another 16,429 persons have been wounded, including 3,715 children, 744 women, 194 paramedics, and 165 journalists. Of the wounded, 8,373 were wounded from live fire, including 1,627 children and 160 women. The Israeli forces continue to keep the bodies of 12 fatalities, including four minors.

Al Mezan condemns the use of excessive and other unlawful force by the Israeli forces, including sharpshooters, to police demonstrations. Al Mezan condemns the escalation in airstrikes and warns against continuing this escalation into a new cycle of hostilities in Gaza. Al Mezan also expresses deep concern at the continued, deliberate attacks on unarmed protesters, including children, as well as on paramedics, journalists, and persons with disability—who are visible as such to Israeli forces. Al Mezan stresses that the right to peaceful assembly and free expression are fundamental rights and must be respected. Unarmed protesters not posing any serious or imminent threat to the Israeli forces must not be shot.

Al Mezan calls on international community to condemn the violations of international law and make a prompt intervention to ensure the protection of civilians from unlawful attacks in the context of the Palestinian protests and the hostilities. International community must end its silence on the aggravating human rights situation and condemn all violations of international law. Al Mezan also calls on the international community to take firm actions to ensure international law is respected, civilians are protected, and justice is served.