142 Palestinians martyred since Gaza rallies began

ANKARA (AA) - A total of 142 people have been martyred by Israeli army gunfire since Mar. 30, when Palestinians in the Gaza Strip began holding rallies along the Gaza-Israel security fence, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

“Among the martyred are 18 children, two women, two medics and two journalists,” ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said in a Thursday statement.

Over the same period, 16,496 Palestinians have been injured, including 4,190 by heavy ammunition and 529 by rubber-coated bullets, according to the ministry.

The injured, al-Qidra said, include 3,126 children and 1,362 women.

Of these, according to ministry figures, 391 were seriously injured while 3,992 had sustained moderate wounds.

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 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of basic commodities.