SIDON, Lebanon: Grief-stricken Palestinians in Ain el-Helwi refugee camp held funerals for their loved ones Monday, a day after Israeli troops shot dead 11 protesters on the Lebanese border with the Jewish state.

All work stopped in Lebanon’s southern Palestinian camps to make way for mourners who gathered in their thousands to bid farewell to Imad Abu Shakra, 18, Abdel Rahman Said Sobhi, 20, and Mohammad Abu Shleeh, 28, three of those who had been slain in Sunday’s events.

Similar funerals were held in Al-Bass and Burj Al-Shamali camps near the southern port city of Tyre.

Israeli troops Sunday shot dead 16 people and wounded hundreds more as Palestinians marched on its borders with Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, as part of commemoration of the Nakba - the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948.

On the Lebanon border, 10 protesters, all Palestinian refugees, were killed by Israeli gunfire and more that 100 were wounded. A critically wounded protester died Monday, raising the death toll to 11, security sources said.

Protesters had taken part in Nakba Day commemorations in the south border town of Maroun al-Ras, some of whom had descended to the fence separating the two countries and pelted stones at Israeli troops.

In Ain el-Helwi, the bodies of Abu Shakra, Sobhi and Shleeh were held up high by procession members, who also carried banners and chanted slogans reflecting their deep longing for their loved Palestine.

The men had “sacrificed their lives for the right to return,” read one banner, “We will fight, we will die, we will return to Palestine,” read another.

With tears running down his face, Abu Shakra’s younger brother, Mohammad, said that the cause of Palestine was worthy of his elder brother’s brutal death.

“Why did you stop me from going with you [to the protest]? You didn’t want me to see you die,” the emotional young man said. “You have made us all proud.”

Friends of Abu Shakra, who was an ardent member of the scouts, said he always expressed his willingness to sacrifice himself for the cause of Palestine.

“Imad was always ready for martyrdom,” said one of Abu Shakra’s friends.

Abu Shakra was shot after placing a flag of Palestine on the Israeli barbed wire, a woman in her 40s told a gathering of people outside the victim’s former house.

“He then shouted: ‘God is Greatest’ and was shot again and killed,” she added.

Family and friends of Sobhi gathered at his house in al-Safsaf neighborhood, where his father voiced a promise that his kin would follow in the footsteps of his son.

"Arab leaders do not have any pride. I promise you my son, your brothers and I will become martyrs not on the border but in Palestine, which will be freed,” Sobhi’s father said.

Wrapped in the Palestinian flag, Abu Shleeh was buried in the Mieh Mieh neighborhood of the camp amid slogans calling on President Michel Sleiman to open the Israeli-Lebanon border.

Fatah also mourned the three victims, who were said to have been members of the Palestinian group.

Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Abdallah Abdallah participated in the march, along with representatives from the Future Movement and Hezbollah.

Abdallah praised the three victims and urged others to continue the struggle to free their beloved country, especially after the Palestinian reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas early this month.

“We have to work and exhaust all Palestinian, Arab and international efforts to return to Palestine,” Abdallah told to the crowd.

Earlier Monday, Israeli warplanes flew over south Lebanon Monday as Palestinian were preparing to bury their dead.

All 12 Palestinian refugee camps across Lebanon declared a day of mourning as families of the victims prepared separate funerals at the southern refugee camps of Ain al-Hilweh, Mieh Mieh, al-Buss and Burj al-Shamali.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers ran patrols along the border with Israel following the deadly events Sunday.

A security source told The Daily Star that Israeli troops were examining the barbed wire fence separating the Lebanese-Israeli border to check for any breaches or damage.

Munir Makdah, Fatah commander in Lebanon, said talks were under way for a “Martyrs’ Friday” to honor the victims.

“This will not end here,” Makdah told AFP. “We may hold a ‘Martyrs’ Friday’ but what the program will entail has not been finalized and we are still holding talks with our comrades here and abroad.”