A/HRC/40/74 have never seen anything like this. The slow methodical shooting. It was just shocking… 57. The commission investigated an incident that occurred during the demonstrations in the early afternoon of 14 May that may have amounted to “direct participation in hostilities”. Near Al-Shuhada cemetery (North Gaza), a person in civilian clothes, metres away from a sizeable group of demonstrators and cheered on by them, fired a rifle towards the Israeli side of the separation fence at a distance of between 50 and 70 m from the fence, amid the thick smoke of the burning tyres. It is unclear whether he was part of a group of militants. Israeli forces responded to the attack with tank and gunfire for about 40 minutes, killing 21 people, including 8 alleged members of armed groups, a paramedic and 2 children: Said Mohammad Abu Al-Kheir (15) and Ibrahim Ahmad Ali Al Zarqa (17). 58. In total, Israeli security forces killed 60 demonstrators on 14 May, the highest oneday death toll in Gaza since their military operation there in 2014. The snipers shot at least 1,162 people with live ammunition; some 141 were wounded by bullet fragmentation or shrapnel. 59. Hospitals in Gaza were literally overwhelmed by the sheer number of deaths and injuries. Medical professionals struggled to treat the wounded. According to an international doctor working that day, “one after the other, ambulances began arriving 10 seconds after each other with one to four patients in each. Casualty and triage were completely overwhelmed, at one point there was total chaos… There was one horrific injury after another.” 60. D. That day one Israeli soldier was lightly wounded, reportedly by a stone. Mid-May–11 October 2018 61. The nature of the demonstrations changed after the violent events of 14 May. On most Fridays, attendance across the demonstration sites ranged between 10,000 and 15,000. The use of incendiary kites became more prevalent over the summer months. In August, following clashes between fishermen and the Israeli navy enforcing the blockade, weekly protests began to be held at the Zikim beach site. E. 12 October 2018 62. About 15,000 people attended the demonstrations of 12 October, marking the twenty-ninth week of demonstrations, and participated in activities at the tents, flying Palestinian flags. At all sites, a minority of demonstrators burned tyres close to the fence, threw stones, flew incendiary kites and balloons and cut barbed wire coils. • Ahmad Abu Na’im (17) 63. That afternoon, east of El Bureij, a group of demonstrators cut the separation fence with machetes, axes and wire cutters. Approximately 20 demonstrators crossed the fence into Israeli territory. Israeli forces shot at them with live ammunition. While most retreated to the Gaza side, Ahmad from the Nuseirat refugee camp remained on the Israeli side with at least one other demonstrator. Israeli forces allege that Ahmad approached an Israeli soldier with a knife, and was shot by Israeli forces at point-blank range. Eyewitness accounts are contradictory. According to one, a group of armed Israeli soldiers approached Ahmad, who was on the ground, unarmed; when he reached up to an Israeli soldier’s arm, the soldier shot him multiple times in the chest and the female witness in the leg. Another witness alleged that Ahmad was shot while he was running away. 64. Given these different accounts, the commission was unable to make a finding as to whether Ahmed constituted an imminent threat to life or serious injury to Israeli forces when he was shot. 65. Across all sites that day, Israeli forces used live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets and tear gas, killing seven demonstrators. At least 136 others were wounded by live ammunition, and another 50 by bullet fragmentation or shrapnel. 12