Hamas once again encouraged Gazans to come to the border fence to southern Israel on Friday and confront Israeli troops. This has become a weekly event during the past month, despite Israeli warnings troops will not tolerate any effort to compromise the integrity of the fence or enter into Israel. Hamas continues to call on its residents to confront Israeli security forces in yet another effort to increase international pressure against Israel.

In fact, the air force on erev Shabbos during the morning hours of Friday, 5 Iyar, dropped Arabic-language flyers in Gaza urging residents to defy the Hamas call for their own safety. The flyers reportedly warned Gazans to distance themselves from the border, and that there will be a zero tolerance policy to any and all attempts to compromise the integrity of the fence.

However, there was another day of violence which lead to four deaths in Gaza, with Gazan officials reporting some 400 wounded. Israeli leaders are not taking the defense, despite calls from the United States, United Nations and European Union for a probe into the death of a 15-year-old. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has issued numerous warnings that any effort to compromise the Gaza border would be met with force.

The mother of 15-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim Ayoub, who was reportedly shot and killed by the IDF insists he was shot dead without justification. The initial IDF probe shows a different reality, one in which the young Gazan was trying to damage the border fence, Channel 10 News reported.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)