Israel opens fire on Gaza Nakba Day rally; dozens hurt

GAZA CITY

Dozens of Palestinian protesters were injured Wednesday when Israeli troops opened fire on a demonstration near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, held to mark the 71st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (“Catastrophe”).

Marked on May 15 of each year, Nakba Day commemorates the expulsion in 1948 of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes in historical Palestine to make way for the new state of Israel.

At least 47 protesters sustained injuries, Gaza’s Health Ministry said in a statement, without providing further details.

Earlier Wednesday, thousands of Palestinians -- many of them waving Palestinian flags -- converged along the buffer zone to take part in the planned rally.

Since the weekly demonstrations began in March of last year, at least 270 demonstrators have been killed -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli troops deployed near the buffer zone.

Along with an end to Israel’s decades-long occupation, protesters demand that Israel lift its 12-year blockade of Gaza, which has gutted the territory’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.