29 Palestinian prisoners returned to Gaza Strip on Tuesday after being freed by Israel, in celebrations that were marred by two people being injured as Israeli troops fired on the greeting crowd. As the Palestinians were crossing the Erez checkpoint between Israel and the Hamas-run territory, a crowd of some 1,000 people waiting for them on the Palestinian side surged forward.
According to AFP, Israeli troops opened fire, wounding two people including a photographer for the Reuters news agency, medics said. An army spokeswoman said: "There was a crowd of people moving toward the Israeli side of the Erez terminal.
"The force fired into the air to make them stop. When they didn't stop, they fired at their lower bodies. We got reports that one person was wounded and are checking into it."
The Gazan detainees were originally due to be freeed the day before along with 57 West Bankers. But instead they remained behind bars at the "Ketziot" prison, after it was discovered at the last minute that President Shimon Peres had not signed their pardons.
The vast majority of those released were from Fatah party, a move that Hamas slammed as discriminatory.
