Palestinian killed by Israel fire near Gaza buffer zone

By Mohamed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - A Palestinian demonstrator was martyred on Friday by Israeli army gunfire near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

In a statement, the ministry said that Ghazi Abu Mustafa, 43, had succumbed to injuries after having been shot in the head by Israeli troops east of the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

At least 45 other Palestinians, including three medics, were injured to varying degrees -- by Israeli teargas or gunfire -- while taking part in the ongoing demonstrations, the ministry said.

More than 150 demonstrators have been killed since Mar. 30, when Palestinians in the Gaza Strip began holding almost daily protests near the buffer zone.

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 2 million inhabitants of many basic commodities.