By Mehmet Nuri Ucar
GAZA, Palestine (AA) – The Israeli army martyred a Palestinian on Thursday amid ongoing mass demonstration on the Gaza fence, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement that a live bullet killed the protester in Deir al-Balah city, central Gaza strip.
Since the demonstrations began on March 30, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed near the buffer zone — and thousands more injured — by Israeli army gunfire.
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 the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its more than two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.
