Massive Palestinian tire burn pollutes Gaza, as attempts to breach Israel border fail

WILLIAM A. JACOBSON APR 6, 2018 3:00 PM

Today was the second attempt by Hamas and other terrorist groups to breach the Gaza-Israel border under cover of civilian “protests.”

When this was tried a week ago, approximately 18 Gazans were killed, almost all of them documented to be military members of terror groups, as we documented in two posts, PHOTOS: Most Palestinians killed at Gaza border clash were terrorists. and 15 terrorists now identified among dead from last Gaza border clash, as Palestinians plan toxic tire fire.

 

So Hamas came up with a plan.

The plan was to create a massive tire burn for next assault on Gaza-Israel border to provide cover smoke. Residents of Gaza gathered thousands of tires amid a celebratory atmosphere.

Today the massive tire burn took place along with almost 20,000 “protesters.” But as before, it was a cover to try to infiltrate terrorists across the border. The Times of Israel reports:

As night fell on the second successive Friday’s Hamas-backed “March of Return” at the Gaza border, the Israeli army said it had managed to frustrate what it called the terror group’s “manipulative” efforts to breach the border fence and carry out acts of terrorism under the cover of a public protest….Some 20,000 Gazans participated in Friday’s demonstration — compared to over 30,000 a week ago — and the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said seven people were killed in the course of the day, compared to some 20 a week ago.Israeli military sources said it was believed that everyone who was hit by IDF gunfire had been engaged in violence. Some Hebrew media reports quoted IDF officials saying all those who were hurt were Hamas operatives.The IDF released video footage of Gazans attempting to breach or target the fence under cover of huge plumes of black smoke caused by the burning of tires close to the border, and Israeli television showed footage of what appeared to be teenage Gazans rolling tires close to the border fence.

Hamas leaders were present predicting a march on Jerusalem:

As thousands of Palestinians demonstrated along the Gaza border on Friday, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, speaking before protesters, warned that the Strip was ready to “explode in the face of the occupation.”He said the world should “wait for our great move, when we breach the borders and pray at Al-Aqsa,” referring to the major Muslim shrine in Jerusalem.Arriving at one of the demonstration sites, Sinwar received a hero’s welcome. He was surrounded by hundreds of supporters who chanted, “We are going to Jerusalem, millions of martyrs.”

In places the fires and smoke plumes were intense, in other places not so much:

Here are some photos, many of which were promoted by Palestinian social media:

As before, the participation of children was promoted.

And there were the obligatory and fake-spontaneous photos ops.

The Israelis had an answer that was not only military.

At the end of the day, all the Palestinians managed to do was to pollute Gaza.

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