As civilian toll climbs in Gaza, focus on Hamas dampens compassion in Israel

Dramatizing their demand for a “Right to Return” to long lost homes, tens of thousands of Gaza Strip residents have mobilized for what were billed as peaceful marches along the Palestinian territory’s heavily fortified border fence with Israel.

Yet the protests, which have also included acts of violence by some demonstrators, have been met the past two weeks with live fire from Israeli forces deployed along the border.

As both sides gird for a third round Friday, the marches’ toll has risen to 31 people killed and more than 1,000 wounded, sparking outrage at the highest number of Palestinian casualties in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the 2014 war between Israel and the hard-line Hamas movement that rules Gaza.

The wisdom of using live ammunition against civilians, both on

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