GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Dozens of Palestinians were wounded along the Israel-Gaza border fence during weekly protests Friday, the health ministry in the enclave said.
At least 83 people were hospitalized in Gaza, the ministry said in a statement, as thousands again demonstrated along the heavily fortified border.
It did not say how many of those were gunshot wounds but three people were reported to be in critical condition.
Numbers were lower than recent Fridays, however, an AFP correspondent said.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli military said some 10,500 Palestinians were taking part in the events, some of whom were throwing stones at soldiers.
At least 263 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the protests and clashes began a year ago.
Two Israeli soldiers have been killed over the same period in Gaza-related violence.
Five men were killed on Saturday as tens of thousands gathered for the first anniversary of the protests.
Israel says its strong response is necessary to defend its borders and accuses Hamas, the political movement that rules the Gaza Strip, of orchestrating violence there.
A February United Nations report accused Israeli soldiers of intentionally firing on civilians, saying it could amount to war crimes.

DUBAI: Two children were killed and eight critically wounded when an unexploded bomb went off at a school in the Houthi-held Yemeni capital, the UN children’s agency said on Friday.
A child had found the bomb and brought it to Al-Fatah school in the Hamdan district of Sanaa on Wednesday to show friends, UNICEF said in a statement.
The casualties were aged between 12 and 14.
Children often fall victim to unexploded ordnance, failing to fully appreciate the dangers.
“It is highly likely, as we’ve seen in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, that children will continue to be killed even when there’s a lull in violence or the violence comes to an end,” said UNICEF’s regional chief of communications, Juliette Touma.

The Saudi Project for Landmine Clearance (MASAM) in Yemen extracted 14 anti-personnel mines, 625 anti-vehicle mines, 67 explosive devices and 665 unexploded ordnance — totaling 1,371 mines — during three weeks of February.
A total of 44,743 mines have been extracted since the beginning of the project. An estimated 1 million mines have been planted by the Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemen over the past three years claiming hundreds of civilian lives.
MASAM aims to dismantle mines in Yemen to protect civilians and ensure that urgent humanitarian supplies are delivered safely. Houthis are developing anti-vehicle mines and turning them into antipersonnel explosives to intimidate and terrorize civilians.
The vast number of landmines continues to pose a threat to the lives of Yemeni people.

ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Turkey was continuing to make payments under its deal with Russia to buy S-400 missile defense systems and the United States had not presented the same terms when it offered to sell Patriot missiles.
“The S-400 holds an important place in our talks. The United States’ arguments are very wrong. We finished the S-400 process and our payments continue,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul when asked about his planned talks in Moscow next week.

ABU DHABI: The Anti-Terror Quartet of countries — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt — have confirmed that they will boycott the 140th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which begins in Qatar on Saturday.

The 139th IPU general assembly was held in Geneva in October 2018, during which the four nations objected to the decision to hold the next gathering in Doha, over concerns about Qatar’s links to terror groups.

In a statement on Thursday, the nations said: “In reference to the joint statement submitted by the four states to the General Secretariat of the Inter-Parliamentary Union during the 139th General Assembly held in Geneva, objecting Qatar’s hosting of the 140th General Assembly of the IPU, scheduled to be held in Doha from April 6 to 10, and announcing boycotting the assembly’s meetings in case it is held in Doha unless Qatar responds to the demands of the four countries to cease its support for terrorism and its intervention in the internal affairs of the countries of the region…as Qatar has shown no response to the fair demands of the four states and persisted with its policies that support extremism and terrorism and intervene in the affairs of the countries of the region, we emphasize our non-participation in the aforementioned activities of the General Assembly.”

The four countries cut transport, trade and diplomatic ties with Qatar in 2017, accusing the country of hosting and funding terror groups and interfering in the internal affairs of other nations. Since then, Qatari aircraft have been banned from the airspace of its three Gulf neighbors, forcing commercial flights to make long detours.

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa said last year that Qatar had prolonged the crisis by pleading its case with western allies instead of dealing with it inside the GCC bloc.
“We were expecting from the beginning of the crisis with Qatar that the emir of Qatar would go to Saudi (Arabia) but this did not happen,” he said.

CAIRO: More than 100 years after it was established, the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Cairo has become a haven of peace honoring the victims of two of the 20th century’s most destructive conflicts.

However, the cemetery’s reputation as a place of quiet remembrance is no accident. Dedicated work and constant care across two continents ensure the site retains a sense of tranquility at odds with its surroundings in one of the most densely populated sections of old Cairo.

Fragrant flowers and manicured gardens greet visitors to the cemetery, which is home to almost 2,400 graves, mainly of soldiers who fought and died in the two world wars. The nationalities differ, but most are from Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Marble gravestones are inscribed with the names of troops, while another section has crosses and markers on the ground for civilians who died on Egyptian soil during the fighting.

According to caretaker Sayed Al-Shandawili, the cemetery is the “most cared for graveyard in Egypt.”

“Cleaning continues throughout the day and the workers are extremely diligent,” he said. 

“Cleaning company workers can speak many languages in order to be able to deal with the foreigners who visit.”

The Cairo site was one of a number established by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission under a British charter in 1917 to commemorate the victims of war, which totalled about 1.7 million men and women.

The commission is a non-profit organization that supervises and maintains 2,500 cemeteries in 150 countries around the world. The names of all the soldiers buried in the graves are available on the commission’s records.

“In commemoration of the beginning of World War I each year, representatives of the countries of the citizens buried there, as well as guests from Egyptian political institutions, meet at the graves,” said Abdelmajid Ahmed, the official in charge of the Commonwealth cemeteries in Egypt.

“In the morning there are speeches for half an hour, followed by the laying of wreaths.”

Ahmed said that workers in the Cairo cemetery live nearby and have fixed work schedules.

There are conflicting opinions on whether any Muslims are buried in the cemetery.

History researcher Abdul Aziz Mahmoud said that some soldiers who fought in World War I in Egypt may have converted to Islam. 

Officially, however, the graveyard is reserved for foreign soldiers, while other parts of the cemetery are for foreign Christians living in Egypt now.

A Commonwealth cemetery in Cairo’s Heliopolis region holds the remains of African soldiers killed in the fighting, including Muslims.

Egypt has 16 Commonwealth cemeteries around Cairo, Alexandria, Alamein, Salom, Port Said, Fayed and Aswan.