By Zeynep Hilal Karyagdi
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA): Two Palestinians were killed and dozens of others injured, including an Anadolu Agency photojournalist, during a Friday rally along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
In a statement, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra confirmed that two Palestinians — aged 18 and 29 — had been killed by Israeli army gunfire.
The two killed were identifed as Nedal ‘Abdel Karim Ahmed Shatat Jihad Harara, (29), from al-Mughraqa in the central Gaza Strip, and Jihad Munir Khaled Hararah (24), from al-Shija’iyah neighborhood in Gaza City.
181 Palestinians were injured including 53 Children, 5 Women, 1 Paramedic, and 3 Journalists. Three Injuries of those wounded were reported to be serious.
Ali Jadallah, an Anadolu Agency photojournalist, was also reportedly injured during Friday’s demonstration.
Jadallah is currently receiving treatment at a nearby hospital.
More than 250 protesters have been killed 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.
Additional report from Imemc.org
[Photo: Israeli forces taking aim at Palestinian protesters during “Great March of Return” demonstration, near Israel-Gaza border, on March 22, 2019 in Rafah, Gaza. Photographer: Abed Rahim Khatib/AA]