Israeli sniper shot at Gaza border protest dies of wounds

Barel Hadaria Shmuel was shot on August 21 during violence at a border protest between the Hamas run enclave and Israel

Israeli snipers look from the military tower during the clashes near the border between Israel and Gaza Strip

An Israeli special forces sniper shot during clashes with Palestinians along the border with the Gaza Strip nine days ago has died of his wounds, police said on Monday.

Barel Hadaria Shmueli was part of a Border Police special unit operating during clashes on the sidelines of a demonstration near the border fence separating the Hamas-run enclave and the Jewish state.

“On Saturday [August 21], during an operational activity on the border fence of the northern Gaza Strip, the force came under fire from the Strip and Barel was critically wounded,” a police statement said.

“After over a week during which he fought for his life along with the staff at Soroka hospital [in the southern Israeli city Beersheba], he was pronounced dead.”

The August 21 violence left around 40 people wounded, according to Hamas, including a 12-year-old Palestinian boy and a 32-year-old man.

It was a return to the marches of 2018, when Gazans began a protest movement demanding an end to Israel's blockade and the right of Palestinians to return to lands they fled or were expelled from when the Jewish state was founded.

The Hamas-backed weekly demonstrations, often violent, sputtered as Israel killed at least 350 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded tens of thousands over more than a year.

Hamas and Israel then fought a devastating 11-day conflict in May, the worst between the two sides in years, which ended with an informal truce.

Incendiary balloons sent from the Palestinian territory towards Israel have continued in the months since, however, with Israel blaming Hamas and often retaliating with air strikes.

At the same time, Israel has been easing restrictions on civilian life and commerce for the territory it has blockaded since 2007, when Hamas took power.