Friday 26 / April / 2024
Gaza: At least 77 Palestinian demonstrators were injured on Friday in clashes with the Israeli soldiers stationed on the borders between the eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, a Palestinian official said.
Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesperson of the health ministry in Gaza, told reporters that the injured include 31 shot by Israeli soldiers' live ammunition.
One of the injured was a field paramedic, he said, adding that the injured were evacuated to nearby hospitals in Gaza.
The clashes broke out on Friday afternoon between hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators and the Israeli soldiers during the weekly anti-Israel protests, better known as the "Great March of Return."
The weekly protests have been going on since 30 March last year, calling on Israel to end the blockade of more than 12 years.
Gazan demonstrators waved Palestinian flags, approached the border fence with Israel, chanted slogans against Israel and threw stones and homemade hand grenades on the soldiers and their vehicles stationed on the border.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said earlier in a press statement that the Israeli army had killed 312 demonstrators and wounded more than 19,000 by live gunfire since the weekly protests started in March last year.
Israel has been imposing a blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007, right after Hamas violently seized control of the coastal enclave.
