Israeli troops kill Palestinian child and one other protester at Gaza border
- By Reuters -
- Oct 06, 2018
GAZA: Israeli forces killed two Palestinians including a child at a protest along the Israel-Gaza border on Friday and wounded at least 126 others, Palestinian officials said.
Thousands of Palestinians had gathered for a protest near Israel’s border fence with the Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said a 12-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man were shot dead by Israeli forces. At least 126 others were wounded by bullets, it said.
Israel’s military blamed that some Palestinians were “throwing explosive devices and grenades, rolling burning tires and hurling rocks” at its soldiers and the border fence.”
No Israelis were wounded.
Israeli army gunfire has killed at least 195 Palestinians since the border protests began in March, Gaza medics say. An Israeli soldier has been killed by a sniper. Tracts of Israeli land have been burnt up by incendiary materials flown over the border by kite or balloon.
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Gaza protesters demand an end to an Israeli and Egyptian blockade and rights to lands that Palestinian families fled or were driven from on Israel’s founding in 1948.
Israel accuses Hamas of orchestrating the protests to provide cover for attacks and distract from Gaza’s economic plight, allegations it denies. Hamas seized control of Gaza from Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007 and has since fought three wars with Israel, most recently in 2014.