By Mohamed Majid

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA): At least seven Palestinians were killed including two children and 506 others injured by the Israeli army while taking part in ongoing demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

In a statement, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra updated the death toll, saying Muhammed Esref el-Avavide, 26, was also killed by Israeli gunfire.

Earlier al-Qidra said that Mohamed Inshani, 18, Iyad Khalil al-Shaer, 18, Mohamed Nayef al-Houm, 14, Mohamed Shahsa , 24, Mohamed Walid Moustafa Haniyyah, 32, and Nasir Musbih, 12, were killed by Israeli army gunfire.

According to al-Qidra, 506 Palestinians, including 35 children, four women, four medics and tow journalists were injured — two of them seriously — by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.

Protesters — who have been staging demonstrations since March 30 — demand the “right of 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 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of basic commodities.

According to the Health Ministry, more than 180 Palestinians have been killed — and thousands more injured — since the rallies began some six months ago.

[Photo:  Relatives of Nasser Azmi Musbih (12), who was killed by Israeli soldiers during “Great March of Return” demonstrations, mourn during his funeral ceremony in Khan Yunis, Gaza on September 29, 2018. Photographer: Ali Jadallah/AA]