Israeli forces kill three Palestinians in Gaza protests

Three people including a teen shot dead during 39th anti-occupation protest in blockaded enclave, Gaza health ministry and medics say.

A wounded Palestinian is evacuated during a protest near the Israel-Gaza fence, in southern Gaza, on December 21, 2018.
Reuters

A wounded Palestinian is evacuated during a protest near the Israel-Gaza fence, in southern Gaza, on December 21, 2018.

Israeli troops killed three Palestinians, including a 16-year-old who received a bullet in the neck, on Friday during anti-occupation protests in east of Gaza City, the health ministry and medics in the blockaded enclave said.

Mohammed al Jahjuh was "hit in the neck by a bullet (fired) by Israeli soldiers", ministry spokesman Ashraf al Qodra told AFP news agency, adding 25 others, including a local journalist, were wounded by Israeli gunfire.

Later, two Palestinians identified as Abdulaziz Ibrahim Abo Sharia'a, 28, and Maher Atiya, 40, a differently-abled, succumbed to their wounds, the ministry said.

Friday's was the 39th consecutive protest along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone against Israel's decades-long occupation.  

The Israeli forces responded violently as they have done during the previous Friday protests by firing live ammunitions that has since March 30 killed more than 220 Palestinians.

"Israeli troops responded with riot dispersal means and fired in accordance with standard operating procedures," the Haaretz reported, citing an Israeli military spokeswoman.

Loading...

Right to return

The protests rally was held under the slogan, "Honouring heroes of the resistance." 

Protesters demand the right to return to their homes and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.  

They also demand an end to Israel's 12-year blockade of Gaza, which has destroyed coastal enclave's economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.  

Route 6