Child Shot at Gaza Rally Dies of Injury

A Palestinian child was proclaimed dead at dawn after he succumbed to a serious bullet injury he sustained when Israeli soldiers attacked a night protest staged East of Gaza City.

News ID: 443827

Date: 09 March 2019 - 13:32

RNA - The health ministry announced that 15-year-old Saifuddin Abu Zaid died of a critical injury in his head, Middle East News reported.

The Israeli occupation forces behind the security fence on Wednesday night intensively fired live ammunition at young protesters rallying in the East of al-Shujaiyya neighborhood.

Consequently, five of the demonstrators suffered bullet injuries, including Saifuddin.

Last Thursday, UN-backed investigators stated that Israeli soldiers intentionally fired on civilians and could have committed crimes against humanity during crackdowns against Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza last year that left tens of people dead.

The independent Commission of Inquiry mandated by the Human Rights Council said more than 6,000 people were shot by military snipers using live ammunition to repel protesters near the separation fence.

For more than ten months, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have demonstrated along the fence demanding their right to return to the homes and land their families were expelled from 70 years ago. The Great March of Return rallies culminated on May 15 to mark what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or Catastrophe - a reference to the forced removal of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and villages to clear the way for Israel's establishment in 1948.

More than 270 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 27,000 Palestinians injured by Israeli forces since the outbreak of the Great March of Return rallies at Gaza border in late March.

Most of the casualties occurred on May 14 when Israeli forces attacked Palestinians marking the 70th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of historical Palestine and the ensuing ethnic cleansing of half a million Palestinian refugees.

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