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Deadly confrontations scar Gaza, West Bank on 'day of rage', Israel uses metal detectors

By Doug G. Ware
A Palestinian man is rushed to a hospital after clashes with Israeli security forces in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on Oct. 9, 2015. Clashes broke out east of Gaza City and Khan Yunis, along the border with the Jewish state. Israeli forces opened fire, killing six Palestinians, after demonstrating youths threw stones on the Israel side of their common border. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI
1 of 16 | A Palestinian man is rushed to a hospital after clashes with Israeli security forces in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on Oct. 9, 2015. Clashes broke out east of Gaza City and Khan Yunis, along the border with the Jewish state. Israeli forces opened fire, killing six Palestinians, after demonstrating youths threw stones on the Israel side of their common border. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

GAZA, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Ongoing attacks in Israel and Palestinian territories this week have led to rising security concerns among the two sides, after several people were killed and dozens more were wounded in clashes Friday.

Israeli defense forces fired across the border into Gaza, killing six Palestinians near the northern border of the Gaza Strip, officials said, in response to violent riots there. More than 60 were wounded -- 10 seriously.

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Israeli troops fired on Palestinians who allegedly approached them in a buffer zone.

Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated following the confrontations, which are the latest in a long line of clashes between the two sides over the contentious Gaza Strip. Demonstrators subsequently expressed their growing frustration by tossing stones and setting fires, reports say.

Israeli officials said troops quelled violent demonstrations in southern Gaza, as well.

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Militant Palestinian organization Hamas had previously declared Friday a "day of rage" -- or intifada -- in response to days of attacks in the region. The insurgence, though, was not approved by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Britain's The Guardian reported Friday.

"We are calling for the strengthening and increasing of the intifada," Gaza Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said during a prayer session Friday. "It is the only path that will lead to liberation. Gaza will fulfill its role in the Jerusalem intifada and it is more than ready for confrontation."

Several other violent clashes marred the region Friday. A Palestinian stabbed a police officer near the West Bank, and was shot dead moments later. A 16-year-old boy was also stabbed in a separate confrontation in Jerusalem. A woman was shot in Israel after a stabbing attempt.

The Guardian report said the woman's shooting was captured on video, which seemingly shows the woman raising her hands above her head seconds before she was cut down by bullets.

In response to the growing violence, Israeli forces have installed metal detectors at the entrance to Jerusalem's Old City and dispatched extra troops to needed areas.

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Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting over territories in the region for decades. The Israeli government has repeatedly built new settlements there, in an attempt to stake claims -- a practice routinely criticized by Palestinians, which they say violates prior agreements.

Last month, the United Nations released a report that suggested Gaza -- a territory home to about 2 million people -- will likely be uninhabitable by 2020 if current economic and political unrest continue.

The U.N. considers Gaza to be occupied by Israel. In 2005, Tel Aviv agreed to dismantle its settlements and cede military control of the Gaza Strip. However, Palestinians have maintained for years that Israel continues to try to control the city, even though it has no authority to do so.

In the four decades since the Six Day War in 1967, Tel Aviv has built 21 settlements in Gaza -- which amounts to about 20 percent of the strip's territory.

"I don't like to put big names or slogans like intifada. All I can say is that what is happening right now is a popular rage," Senior Fatah official Issa Qaraka said. "In order to bring this under control [the Israelis] need to control the settlers. We cannot control people on our side if they fail to control their side."

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"We should build, build, build in response to each attack. Jews are too accustomed to being merciful with our enemies," Israeli citizen Eitan Schulman, who was in Gaza with his family, countered.

"We have to know how to fight hard."

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