By Hani al-Shaer and Hidaya al-Saedi

GAZA, Palestine

At least three Palestinian youths were injured by Israeli army gunfire Wednesday evening in central Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian field medics.

They were attending a peaceful rally in Deir al Balah city.

Two of them were injured in the foot while the third was wounded by shrapnel in the chest.

Since Wednesday afternoon, dozens of Palestinians gathered in the eastern fence of central Gaza Strip with Israel in order to join the ongoing popular Palestinian rallies known as The Great Return March.

Since the rallies began March 30, scores of Palestinians have been martyred -- and thousands injured -- by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.

Protesters demand the “right of 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 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its more than 2 million inhabitants of many basic commodities.