LIVE: Seven Palestinians killed, hundreds wounded in second week of Gaza protests

Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar threatened reprisal attacks against Israel should Gaza be targeted today, speaking at one of the Gaza demonstrations on Friday, the Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agency reported.

"We know our path, even though the world conspires against us [Palestinians]," he said.

"If Gaza is hit, we will hit deep in the Israeli settlements," he said, referring to Israeli territory.

An MEE correspondent on the scene in the Malaka-Karni area, east of Gaza City, is reporting that Israeli forces are calling, via loudspeaker, on journalists to evacuate the area, raising fears that the army might escalate measures in the area.

A second Palestinian has been killed by Israeli forces during protests in Gaza today, the Gaza health ministry said around 4:30pm, identifying the slain Palestinian as Majdi Ramadan Shabat, who died in demonstrations taking place east of Gaza City.

The ministry did not immediately elaborate on how Shabat was killed.

Another demonstrator, 38-year-old Osama Khamis Qudeih, was killed earlier this afternoon after reportedly being shot in the neck.

Earlier today, before the demonstrations began, 30-year-old Thaer Rabaa succumbed to wounds sustained during last week's protests, technically putting Friday's toll at three dead.

The Gaza ministry of health has reported that at least 150 Palestinians have been wounded as of 4pm local time.

Less than an hour after Israeli forces called for journalists to evacuate from the protest area near Malaka-Karni in the northeastern Gaza Strip, at least three journalists were injured, including one by gunshot, an MEE correspondent on the scene said.

According to the correspondent, journalist Yasser Murtaja was shot in the abdomen. Meanwhile, Sabr Nour al-Dinwas reportedly wounded by a tear gas canister that hit him in the abdomen, and Palestine TV correspondent Islam al-Zanoun suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation.

An Israeli army spokesperson told MEE they were not aware of the incidents. 

On Palestine's Wattan TV, Palestinian demonstrators we seen earlier today burning photographs of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who drew Palestinian ire earlier this week for stating in an interview with The Atlantic that Israel had a "right" to a homeland.

The Gaza ministry of health says at least 40 Palestinian demonstrators have been wounded today, as of 2:30pm local time.

The ministry said at least five people were severely injured in the head or upper body, adding that dozens more had received first aid in field clinics located in the protest tent encampments along the border with Israel.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said around 3pm that it had treated at least 81 injured Palestinians, including 36 who suffered from gunshot injuries.

PRCS said at least three people were in a critical condition. 

Israeli forces are hosing down piles of burning tyres set up by protesters east of Gaza City, in the Malaka-Karni area, according to an MEE correspondent on the ground, adding that demonstrators were bringing more tyres to the protest encampment.

Today's demonstrations have been dubbed "Jum'at al-Kawshook", literally meaning "Friday of tyres", as demonstrators have planned on using burning tyres and mirrors to make it harder for Israeli snipers and infantry brigade troops to target crowds with live ammunition.

In addition to using water to take out the fires, as reported earlier in this liveblog, Israeli forces have also been using large fans to blow the smoke away from army snipers.

In anticipation of today's demonstration, Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem earlier this week announced a new campaign urging Israeli soldiers to refuse orders to open fire on unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in the Gaza Strip.

The campaign, which was titled “Sorry Commander, I cannot shoot”, did not feature in the Israeli national press.

Israeli politician Yair Lapid tweeted on Wednesday that B'Tselem's campaign for Israeli soldiers to refuse shooting orders in Gaza was "a disgrace and a complete moral blindness".

B'Tselem, according to Lapid, "have gone mad".

"Have you considered calling on Hamas to stop sending terrorists to try to break through the border into Israel?" he asked.

On Thursday, Israeli Knesset members and politicians called B'Tselem's campaign "an incitement to refusal", and asked for an investigation into the organisation's work. 

It remained unclear as of Friday whether any soldiers had heeded B'Tselem's call.

Ilan Pappe, a leading Israeli historian and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter, has written for MEE about how the Jeremy Corbyn/anti-Semitism row in the UK has made it harder for the Labour Party leader to speak out about the ongoing situation in Gaza, which has seen 22 Palestinians killed since last Friday. 

Pappe refers to the presence of Israeli flags amid the protest outside the UK parliament on 26 March and writes:

“The dividend for the Zionist lobby in Britain was that Corbyn would be silent in the face of the new massacre in Gaza – and without him, we have very few brave politicians who would dare to utter a word in the new atmosphere of timidity.”

Footage is coming out of Palestinian protesters burning tyres in the "buffer zone" between Gaza and Israel, notably in the southern Gaza Strip east of the city of Khan Younis.

Today's demonstrations have been dubbed "Jum'at al-Kawshook", literally meaning "Friday of tyres", as demonstrators have planned on using burning tyres and mirrors to make it harder for Israeli snipers and infantry brigade troops to target crowds with live ammunition.

Meanwhile, a reporter from Israel's Channel 2 news shared a photo of Israel forces using big fans to attempt to counter the smoke.

The United Nations human rights office urged Israel on Friday to ensure that its security forces do not use excessive force against Palestinian protesters at the Gaza-Israel border.

Firearms should only be used as a last resort, and unjustified recourse to their use may amount to wilful killing of civilians, a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, UN human rights spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell told a briefing.

A Palestinian died on Friday of wounds suffered a week ago during protests against Israel along the enclave's border, Gaza health ministry officials said. That raised to 20 the death toll of Palestinian demonstrators killed by Israeli forces since last Friday, 30 March.

Israeli forces have opened live fire on Palestinian demonstrators near the border line in the northern and eastern Gaza Strip, according to the official Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa.

Meanwhile, Gaza medical services have been on alert since the morning and hospitals have pre-emptively declared a state of emergency ahead of the protests, an MEE correspondent in Gaza reported.

East of Gaza City, Israeli forces had already begun firing tear gas in the morning.