Thousands of Palestinians turned out for violent protests along the Gaza border Friday for the third week in a row, hurling stones and fire bombs at IDF soldiers and burning tires. Protesters also burned Israeli flags.

The IDF said it had foiled a number of attempts to carry out attacks on soldiers along the Israeli side of the border and to sabotage infrastructure, as well as attempts to infiltrate into Israel. A spokesman noted an improvised explosive device planted along the fence near the former Karni Crossing, and a fire bomb attached to a kite.

Palestinian sources said around 30 people were injured, several of them by live fire, at five locations along the border. The number of injuries was significantly lower than in the past two weeks when some 32 people were killed in clashes, while hundreds were injured. The number of participants in this week’s protest was some 10,000 according to IDF sources, compared with around 30,000 in the initial march two weeks ago.

The protests, labeled “The Great March of Return” are scheduled to take place weekly until Nakba Day on May 15 when a mass march toward Israeli territory is expected. Nakba Day, which means Day of the Catastrophe is marked annually on May 15,  a day after the Gregorian calendar date for Israeli Independence Day.

According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Hamas has been instrumental in the protests and 13 of its operatives are counted among the dead, with seven other fatalities belonging to other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.  The Center said most of those killed had been engaged in violent activities along the border, while some had been attempting to carry out terrorist attacks.