TWO Palestinians have been killed after Israeli troops opened fire on protesters across the border fence, health officials said.

The shootings came as thousands of Palestinians joined the fourth weekly protest on Gaza’s border with Israel yesterday, with some burning tyres or flying kites which carried flaming rags.

Huge black plumes of smoke from the blazing tyres engulfed the area, as Israeli troops fired tear gas and live bullets, witnesses said.

Gaza’s health ministry said 40 people were injured, but did not say how many were wounded by gunfire or overcome by tear gas.

The protests are part of what organisers, led by Gaza’s ruling Hamas group, have billed as an escalating showdown with Israel, to culminate in a mass march on May 15. Organisers have made conflicting statements about an eventual mass border breach.

In the past three weeks, 28 Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded by Israeli troops firing from across the border fence. In addition, two Palestinian men, aged 24 and 25, were shot and killed in a border area in northern Gaza, the health ministry said. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Hamas said the protests are aimed at breaking a crippling border blockade that was imposed by Israel and Egypt.