Gazans bury two youths martyred by Israeli fire

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Hundreds of Palestinians on Saturday bid farewell to two youths martyred by Israeli army fire during anti-occupation protests in the Gaza Strip a day earlier.

Jihad Munir, 24, and Nidal Abdul-Karim, 29, were shot dead by Israeli forces during protests near Israel-Gaza buffer zone on Friday. Scores of Palestinians were also injured.

Mourners chanted slogans against Israel, amid calls for bringing the self-proclaimed Jewish state to accountability over its harsh crackdown on protesters in Gaza.

More than 250 protesters have been martyred since Palestinians began holding regular demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone in March of last year.

Demonstrators demand the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes 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 roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.