Israeli troops fired across the border into Gaza on Friday, killing three Palestinians and wounding 14 others who were throwing stones and taking part in a rally in support of violence in Jerusalem, hospital officials in Gaza said.
The demonstration was called in solidarity with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem and followed a spate of attacks by Palestinians against Israelis and reprisals by Jews against Arabs.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said around 200 Palestinians massed at the border fence in northern Gaza, throwing rocks and rolling burning tires toward troops stationed on the other side.
The soldiers "fired at the main instigators in order to halt their advance and disperse the riot," she said, adding that she knew of five Palestinians who were shot.
Hospital officials put the death toll at three, with 14 others wounded. Witnesses said they had been fired at by Israeli snipers in guardposts along the border fence, about 400 meters away from where the Palestinians were protesting.
There is an Israel-imposed security zone that runs about 300 meters from the border into Gaza. Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups have lookout towers and guardposts in place just back from the buffer zone.
