Mourners carry the body of a Palestinian killed during clashes with Israeli forces on the Israeli-Gaza border, during his funeral in the Gaza Strip on April 6, 2018
SYRIA - 8 April 2018: Palestinian mourners in the Gaza Strip on Saturday buried their dead, including a journalist, after Israeli troops killed nine during the latest border clashes in a week of bloodshed.
Thousands of protesters approached the border fence around Gaza for a second Friday in a row, burning tyres and hurling stones at Israeli forces, who responded with tear gas and live ammunition.
In addition to the nine dead, at least 491 were wounded by Israeli gunfire, the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave said.
Israel said there were around 20,000 protesters and that they were seeking to breach the border.
Numbers were down from the previous Friday, when tens of thousands approached the border in demonstrations that saw Israeli forces kill 19 Palestinians, making it the bloodiest day in Gaza since a 2014 war.
The demonstrations largely abated by Saturday, but three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli forces in a small clash east of Gaza City in the afternoon, one of them seriously, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
No Israelis were injured on either day and the latest deaths have sparked fresh calls for an investigation.
Among those killed on Friday was Yasser Murtaja, 30, a photographer with the Gaza-based Ain Media agency, who died from his wounds after being shot, the health ministry said.
Witnesses said he was close to the front of the protests in southern Gaza when he was hit.
An AFP picture taken after he was wounded showed Murtaja wearing a press vest as he received treatment.
His brother Motazem, also a journalist, said he was next to him when he was shot. "The target was very clearly journalists," he said.
Israel's army said it "does not intentionally target journalists."
"The circumstances in which journalists were allegedly hit by Israeli Defence Force (IDF) fire are not familiar to the IDF, and are being looked into," it said in a statement.
- 'Intentional shot' -
Murtaja's body was taken from the hospital to his home in Gaza City on Saturday morning, with dozens of journalists following, many fighting back tears.
It was wrapped in a Palestinian flag, with a press flak jacket placed on his stomach.
Ismail Haniya, the head of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas, attended the funeral and said that journalists were attacked by Israel while trying to show a "true picture of a blockaded, downtrodden people".
In the West Bank political capital of Ramallah, around 50 Palestinian journalists held a vigil for Murtaja.
Christophe Deloire, secretary general of watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said Murtaja was "obviously the victim of an intentional shot" and that his organisation "condemns with indignation the deliberate shootings of the Israeli army against journalists."
Deloire urged an independent investigation of the incident.
The Foreign Press Association operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories urged the Israeli army "to show restraint in areas where journalists are operating and to conduct a fast and open investigation into this incident."
The Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate said five other reporters were also shot and wounded by the Israeli army during Friday's protests, despite wearing clothes clearly identifying them as journalists.
Thousands of Arabs rallied in northern Israel on Saturday in solidarity with the people of Gaza, some of them holding pictures of Murtaja.
And in London, hundreds gathered in support of the Palestinians in Gaza, condemning the firing of "live ammunition into crowds of unarmed civilians" by Israeli forces as "illegal and inhumane".
- 'Terrorists posing as civilians' -
Weeks of border protests have been called to demand the return of Palestinians to land they were forced from or fled after the founding of Israel 70 years ago.
They come with tensions high as the United States gears up to shift its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem after recognising the disputed city as the capital of the Jewish state.
Protesters on Friday said economic woes were also fuelling frustration in Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade for a decade.
Late Friday, Kuwait called on the Security Council to investigate the deaths, but the US is likely to veto such a probe.
Israel rebuffed international calls for an investigation into last Friday's killings, with the army saying troops opened fire "in accordance with the rules of engagement".
Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Saturday accused Hamas of "sending terrorists under the guise of civilians to harm our sovereignty".
Israel says Hamas, with whom it has fought three wars since 2008, uses the protests as a cover to carry out violence.
It alleges more than half of those killed on March 30 were members of militant groups, including Hamas's armed wing.
Hamas claimed only five of the dead and said they were participating "in popular events side-by-side with their people."
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