Israeli gunfire injures 11 Palestinian protesters

By Hidaya al-Saedi

GAZA, Palestine

At least 11 Palestinian demonstrators were injured by Israeli gunfire off northern Gaza Strip’s Beit Lahia shore, the Palestinian Health Ministry announced Monday.

The ministry said the demonstrators were injured by Israeli live bullets during the 19th maritime march as part of the popular Palestinian rallies known as "the Marches of Return".

On Monday evening, dozens of Palestinians staged a protest march along the Gaza-Israel maritime border to demand an end to Israel’s decades-long occupation.

Since March 30, Palestinian protesters in Gaza have demanded 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 roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.

Since the rallies first began on March 30, more than 210 Palestinians have been killed -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli troops deployed near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone.

In recent months, Palestinian human rights organizations and international organizations, including the United Nations, have warned of the consequences of the deterioration of humanitarian conditions in Gaza due to Israeli restrictions on the besieged coastal enclave since 2006.

By Hidaya al-Saedi

GAZA, Palestine

At least 11 Palestinian demonstrators were injured by Israeli gunfire off northern Gaza Strip’s Beit Lahia shore, the Palestinian Health Ministry announced Monday.

The ministry said the demonstrators were injured by Israeli live bullets during the 19th maritime march as part of the popular Palestinian rallies known as "the Marches of Return".

On Monday evening, dozens of Palestinians staged a protest march along the Gaza-Israel maritime border to demand an end to Israel’s decades-long occupation.

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.

Since the rallies first began on March 30, more than 210 Palestinians have been killed -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli troops deployed near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone.