Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are gathering in crowds in preparation for another protest on the borders with Israel scheduled for Friday, dubbed “Rubber Friday” or #جمعة_الكوشوك , in reference to the tyres that are piled up to be burned during the protest. Thousands of tyres have been collected during the past few days and piled in various locations along the border.

The thick black cloud from the tyre-burning will be produced in hope to block the vision of Israeli snipers.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has not deflected responsibility for using live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian civilians in Gaza and in a tweet, which was deleted shortly after it was posted they tried to justify their actions by saying:

“Nothing was carried out uncontrolled; everything was accurate and measured, and we know where every bullet landed”.

Israel’s use of live ammunition against unarmed Palestinians has triggered condemnation from the international community, as Israel is once again in violation of international human rights law.

Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, launched a campaign on Thursday urging Israeli soldiers to refuse orders to shoot unarmed Palestinians during the protest.

B'Tselem condemned orders forcing Israeli soldiers to fire live ammunition at unarmed protesters for merely approaching the border fence. They acknowledged the military was allowed to prevent breaches and in some cases detain protesters but asserted that “firing live ammunition solely on these grounds is absolutely prohibited”.

Friday protests are integral to the “Great Return March” which is scheduled to span six weeks until May 15, marking the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, which will also be the day the US is expected to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

Since the first day of the protests, on Land Day, at least 19 Palestinians were killed and more than 1500 were injured. According to recent reports, Shadi Hamdan al-Kashef, 34, has also died due to wounds sustained on Friday.