By Mohamed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA): Two Palestinian teenagers were killed Friday by Israeli army gunfire near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

In a statement, the ministry said that Hassan Shalabi, 14, and Hamza Ashtiwi, 18, had been “martyred by Israeli forces”.

According to the ministry, at least 17 other Palestinians were injured by live ammunition.

Since Palestinians began holding almost-daily rallies along the buffer zone in March of last year, Israeli forces have killed more than 250 Palestinians and wounded more than 25.000, including children, women, and elders, according to the Ministry of Health.

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 by The Muslim News

[Photo: Relatives mourn killing of Hassan Shalabi, 14, by Israeli army gunfire near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, at the Nassir Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza on February 08, 2019. Photographer: Ashraf Amra/AA]