ISRAELI troops killed six protesters in Gaza yesterday as clashes escalated across the Palestinian territories and Israel.

The Israeli military said about 200 Palestinians in Gaza had advanced toward the border, throwing rocks and rolling burning tyres at soldiers stationed there. Troops opened fire, killing six protesters.

In a speech delivered in Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh declared a third intifada, saying that 20 years of negotiations with Israel had failed to secure an independent Palestinian state.

Elsewhere, security forces shot a Palestinian woman as she walked away from them.

Mobile phone footage emerged showing at least five police and soldiers armed with rifles approaching the robed woman from one side at a bus station in the northern town of Afula.

As she turns to walk away, shot ring out and she falls to the ground.

Police claimed the woman had threatened them with a knife and posed an “imminent threat,” adding that she had been taken to hospital.

In Jerusalem, a Palestinian wielding a potato peeler stabbed and wounded a 14-year-old Israeli before being arrested.

In another attack near the entrance to West Bank settlement Kiryat Arba, a Palestinian was shot dead by a police officer after he had attacked the officer with a knife and tried to seize his weapon, police said.

In the southern Israeli city of Dimona, an Israeli man stabbed four Palestinians in apparent retaliation for earlier attacks.

Dimona mayor Beni Bitton said the stabber was a “mentally ill man,” adding that two of the victims worked for the city council and that passers-by had rushed to provide first aid.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “strongly condemned the harming of innocent Arabs,” saying that anyone who resorts to violence would be brought to justice.

But in a further escalation of tensions, millionaire Jerusalem Mayor Nir Birkat called on Israeli citizens to arm themselves against Palestinians.

Defending his public appearance carrying an assault carbine on Thursday, he said: “Those with a licenced firearm who know what to do with it must go out with their weapon. In a way, it’s like military reserve duty.”