4 Palestinians killed in mounting tension between Hamas, Israel

Four Palestinians were killed and 210 wounded on Friday during a mounting tension between the Israeli army and Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, medics and local media reported.

The health ministry in Gaza said in a statement that three Palestinians were killed in the Israeli tank shelling on eastern Gaza Strip and one was shot dead by Israeli troops' gunfire during protests close to the border with Israel.

Hamas armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said in a short text message sent to reporters that the three killed in the Israeli tank shelling were members of the group.

As Gaza militants and Israeli soldiers exchanged fire, dozens of Palestinians joined the 17th Friday of the protests and rallies, which was called the "Great March of Return" by the Palestinians starting from March 30 this year.

The health ministry said that in the protests, around 210 others were also injured and most of them suffered suffocation after inhaling tear gas fired by the Israeli soldiers stationed at the border between eastern Gaza and Israel.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said in a statement that its tanks and war jets attacked eight military posts that belong to Hamas militants along the border.

The army said that two roadside bombs were also detonated under the borderline area east of Rafah town close to the commercial crossing of Kerem Shalom close to the border with Israel.

Senior Hamas leader Ismail Radwan told reporters that the crimes of the Israeli occupation will not pass for free, adding that the protests and breaking the Israeli siege will not stop until it achieves its goals.

"The enemy's threat won't terrify us and won't break our determination to carry on with Jihad (Holy War) and resistance," he said, adding "shelling for shelling, blood for blood and demolition for demolition ... this is the equation with the occupation."

On Friday, the high commission of the protests and defying the Israeli siege called on the Palestinians to demonstrate at five different locations in eastern Gaza close to the border with Israel.

Eyewitnesses said that Palestinian demonstrators burned tires, pulled parts of the barbed wire of the border, released dozens of arson balloons and kites from eastern Gaza into southern Israel, and clashed with the Israeli soldiers stationed at the borders.

Ashraf Al-Qedra, spokesperson of the health ministry in Gaza, said in a press statement that since March 30, the Israeli army killed 147 Palestinians, including two children in an airstrike and wounded more than 16,000.