Deadly Clashes in Gaza: EU Calls for Probe Into Recent Killings of Civilians

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The European Union urges the sides to the recent Israeli-Palestinian clashes in the Gaza Strip to investigate collateral murders of civilians and to bring the perpetrators to justice, the spokeswoman for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said on Sunday.

"In Gaza on Friday again thousands of Palestinians have demonstrated, sometimes violently, near the fence … In the occupied West Bank on Saturday a Palestinian woman was killed by stone throwing. Three Israeli civilians have also been killed in recent days and weeks. All such incidents need to be investigated and perpetrators brought to justice," the spokeswoman for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Maja Kocijancic, said on Sunday in a statement.

READ MORE: WATCH Palestinian Protests Against Israel Rage at Gaza Border

The European Union also called on all parties concerned to exercise restraint to further killings. In addition, the bloc reiterated that it saw a political settlement as the only solution to the conflict.

The EU spokeswoman's statement comes following reports on Friday stating that at least seven Palestinian protesters were killed in clashes with Israeli troops near the Gaza Strip border. The Israeli military, in their turn, explained that the troops had opened fire on a group of the Palestinian militants, who approached an army post and detonated a bomb.

Tensions between the Israeli army and the Palestinian protesters near the Gaza border have been mounting since late March, which marked the beginning of the Great March of Return series of demonstrations.