Israeli Forces Shoot Dead 3 Palestinians, Including Teen, Wound Dozens More in Gaza Strip

Three Palestinians, including a teenage, have been shot dead by Israeli fire and nearly fifty others have sustained injuries during anti-occupation protests along the border between the besieged Gaza Strip and Israeli-occupied territories, press TV reported.

Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qodra said 16-year-old Mohammed al-Jahjuh was fatally shot in the neck, while 47 others, including a local journalist, were wounded by Israeli gunfire during border protests and clashes east of Gaza City on Friday.

Al-Jahjuh was “hit in the neck by a bullet (fired) by Israeli soldiers”, the spokesman said.

Abdulaziz Ibrahim Abu Sharia, 27, and Maher Yaseen, 40, were the other fatalities of the Israeli attack.

 The Palestinian protesters threw stones from behind clouds of black smoke of burning tires at Israeli troops, who responded with tear gas and live fire.

Tensions have been running high near the fence since March 30, which marked the start of a series of protests dubbed “The Great March of Return.” Palestinian protesters demand the right to return for those driven out of their homeland.

The clashes in Gaza reached their peak on May 14, the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day, or the Day of Catastrophe, which coincided this year with Washington’s relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.

More than 220 Palestinians have so far been killed and over 20,000 others wounded in the renewed Gaza clashes, according to the latest figures released by the Gaza Health Ministry.

H.M