Israel threatens deadly force to stop protesters

|PIC1|Israel is prepared to use deadly force to stop Palestinian protesters from forcing their way into Israel during a planned rally along the Gaza Strip's frontier on Monday, a senior Israeli defence official said.

Organisers linked to Gaza's Islamist Hamas administration said they would hold a peaceful rally in which they estimated 40,000 to 50,000 women and children would form a "human chain" along the border and call for an end to an Israeli-led blockade.

Hamas blew open Gaza's southern border wall with Egypt last month, allowing thousands of needy Palestinians to surge across.

"I hope that, ultimately, they (Hamas) understand that we are deployed and ready, that this will not be a repeat of what happened in the Philadelphi Corridor (Gaza-Egypt border) a few weeks back," Deputy Israeli Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said.

"We don't plan to fool around in this regard," he told Israel Radio. "We will use measures in the way we deem necessary to prevent people breaking into the state of Israel's territory."

Asked if this could include using live fire against Palestinians, Vinai said: "Anything that must be done, will be done."