Israeli military killed 12 Arabs, including a child, and wounded at least 220 when they tried to storm a ceasefire line on Sunday marking 44 years of the Six-Day Arab-Israeli War, the Syrian state television said.
At midday, a small group of young Palestinian and Syrian demonstrators breached the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights. Israeli servicemen opened fire.
The press service of Israel’s Defense Army said the military had fired warning shots to begin with to stop the demonstrators.
The Six-Day war fought on June 5-10, 1967 resulted in Israel gaining control of the Golan Heights from Syria, which has remained the center of the Israeli-Syrian conflict.
Last week a few Arab youth organizations called on Palestinian refugees living in Syria and Lebanon to organize marches of return to the occupied territory on Sunday.
On Saturday, it was decided to postpone the demonstration considering the current situation and national interests of all sides, as the Palestine Liberation Front, a militant group, put it.
Still, several buses with Palestinian and Syrian youngsters arrived at the Golan Heights on Sunday morning but were stopped by Syrians. A few young people however managed to get through to the ceasefire line joined by a few local Syrians and were met by the Israeli forces.
DAMASCUS, June 5 (RIA Novosti)