GAZA CITY, Palestine

A Palestinian teenager on Monday succumbed to wounds he sustained from Israeli army gunfire during demonstrations in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry.

Abdelr-Raouf Saleha, 14, was martyred due to wounds he sustained on Friday in eastern Jabalia city, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement.

Since March, more than 250 Palestinians have been martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli army fire during protests near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone.

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.

Reporting by Nour Abu Aisha:Writing by Mahmoud Barakat