RNA - Scores of Palestinians gathered on Saturday in Rafah, located 30 kilometers south of Gaza City, to bid farewell to 25-year-old Ehab Atallah Hussein Abed, who was shot dead during weekly anti-occupation protests at the Israeli fence separating Gaza from the occupied territories a day earlier.
In the West Bank, mourners attended the funeral of Ahmed Hamed, 16, who was killed by Israeli forces in Ramallah on Friday for allegedly hurling stones at soldiers.
Another Palestinian Hamdan Tawfiq al-Arda, 60, whose body was handed over to his family after being withheld for more than 40 days, was laid to rest in the village of Arraba near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
Arda was shot and killed by Israeli forces more than one month ago for allegedly carrying out a ramming attack against Israeli soldiers in the city of al-Bireh.
Palestinians have held weekly protests on the Gaza border, over the siege on the enclave and the right for refugees to return to their homes they were forcibly expelled from during the 1948 creation of Israel.
Nearly 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces ever since anti-occupation protest rallies began in the Gaza Strip on March 30. Over 26,000 Palestinians have also sustained injuries.
The Gaza clashes reached their peak on May 14 last year, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided this year with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.
Tensions have risen across the Palestinian territories since a move by the United States in late 2017 to recognize the holy city of Jerusalem al-Quds in the West Bank as Israel’s “capital.”
The move flew directly in the face of Palestinians’ demand that the city’s eastern part serve as the capital of their future state, and prompted a vote by the United Nations General Assembly soon afterwards that called on Washington to withdraw the recognition.
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