Palestinian dies of wounds sustained during Gaza rally

By Hidaye es-Saidi

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - A Palestinian child succumbed to injuries sustained Wednesday while taking part in anti-occupation rallies east of Gaza.

“Seyfeddin Abu Zeid, 15, has died of injuries suffered Wednesday at the hands of Israeli occupation forces,” Gaza’s Health Ministry said in a statement.

More than 250 Palestinians have been martyred by Israeli army gunfire and thousands more injured since Gazans began staging weekly protests at points along the border between Gaza and Israel in March of last year.

Demonstrators demand the right of Palestinian refugees to 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 12-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.