Israel shelling injures 2 Palestinians in southern Gaza

By Hani al-Shaer

RAFAH, Palestine (AA) - At least two Palestinians were injured Thursday by Israeli army artillery fire east of the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, according to a local medical source.

Ambulance crews reportedly rushed to the scene in Rafah’s eastern Al-Nahda neighborhood.

The medical source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Anadolu Agency that one of the two victims had sustained serious injuries while the other had been only lightly wounded.

The Israeli army, for its part, has yet to comment on the reported shelling.

Since Palestinians began staging mass rallies along the Gaza-Israel security fence on March 30, at least 132 Palestinians have been martyred -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli army gunfire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Protesters demand the “right of 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 draconian blockade of the Gaza Strip, which for the last 11 years has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its 2 million inhabitants of many basic commodities.