By Eyser el-Iys

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA): A Palestinian woman was killed late Friday when the vehicle she was traveling in was pelted with stones by Jewish settlers as it was passing through the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources. In addition,  seven Palestinian protesters were killed on Friday by Israeli army gunfire near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone.

Aisha Mohammed Talal al-Rabi, 47, was killed, while her husband survived the attack with injuries, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement that the woman suffered a severe head injury and its health teams had referred her to a hospital after the attack, which occurred near the Hawara checkpoint.

Aisha died of blunt force trauma to the head, caused by a rock that was thrown at her head by the settlers.

The woman succumbed to her injuries at the hospital, it added.

The slain woman was from Bidya town, northwest of Salfit.

At least seven Palestinian protesters were killed on Friday by Israeli army gunfire near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

In a written statement issued by the ministry, seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli bullets.

According to the ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra, in today’s demonstrations Mohammad Isam Abbas, 21, Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tawil, 27, Mohamed Abdel Hafiz Ismael, 29, Ahmed Ahmed Abu Naim, 17, Abdullah Berham ad-Da’ame, 25, Tamir Eyyad Abu Arman, 22, and Afifi Mohammad Ata Afifi, 18, were confirmed dead.

According to al-Qidra, another 154 Palestinians were injured by live ammunition fired 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 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.

According to the Health Ministry, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed – and thousands more injured — since the rallies began on March 30.

[Photo: Aisha Mohammed Talal al-Rabi, 47, killed by Jewish settlers in Nablus on 12 October 2018. Photograph by Imemc.org]