MAJDAL SHAMS: Israeli troops opened fire on Sunday as protesters from Syria stormed a ceasefire line in the occupied Golan Heights, with Damascus saying 14 demonstrators were killed.
Hundreds of protesters rushed towards the ceasefire line, cutting through a line of barbed wire as they tried to head into the Golan Heights in a repeat of demonstrations last month that saw thousands mass along Israel’s north.
Similar protests were held in the West Bank, where hundreds demonstrated at Qalandia checkpoint near Ramallah, and in the Gaza Strip, where several hundred more gathered in the north of the coastal enclave.
In Majdal Shams, on the occupied Golan, Israeli troops opened fire as demonstrators sought to push through the mined ceasefire line, which had been reinforced with several rows of barbed wire blocking access to a fence.
Updating an earlier toll, Syrian state media reported that 14 people were killed, including a woman and child, and more than 220 wounded. The Israeli military said it was aware of 12 casualties, but gave no more details.
In Majdal Shams, locals pleaded with soldiers to stop firing as troops used loudspeakers to warn demonstrators in Arabic that “anyone who comes close to the fence will be responsible for their own blood.”
Israeli forces had been placed on high alert after activists in the West Bank and Gaza, and in Arab nations bordering the Jewish state, called for protesters to march on Israeli checkpoints and border areas.
Protests were also staged in Gaza and the West Bank, where hundreds of demonstrators marched to the Qalandia checkpoint by Ramallah, throwing stones at Israeli troops who fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
Elsewhere, around 100 people demonstrated in central Hebron in the southern West Bank, while dozens of protesters tried to march from the northern West Bank village of Deir al-Hatab to the nearby Elon Moreh settlement.
In Gaza, Hamas police arrested around a dozen protesters who broke away from a rally at the entrance of the northern town of Beit Hanun, and tried to march to the Erez border crossing with Israel.
Sunday’s protests, timed to coincide with the 44th anniversary of the Six-Day War when Israel occupied further parts of the Arab Nations like Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
