Palestinian martyred by Israeli soldiers in N. Gaza

By Mustafa Haboush

GAZA, Palestine (AA) - At least one Palestinian protester was martyred and 10 others wounded on Monday evening by Israeli soldiers, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

In a statement, the ministry said Fayez Abu al-Sadiq, 21, was martyred by Israeli gunfire in the northern Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of Palestinians converged along Gaza’s northern border [buffer zone between Gaza and Israel] and set tires on fire as part of the ongoing rallies known as the Great March of Return.

The injured persons included a cameraman, who was covering rally for Anadolu Agency.

Montaser al-Sawaf, the cameraman, said that an Israeli gas bomb hit him in the left leg when he was trying to capture scenes of Israeli army assault on hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators.

"At the same time when I was hit, my camera was also hit by an Israeli bullet,” he told Anadolu Agency.

Sawaf pointed out that the ambulance crew treated him on the ground and described his injury as a "minor" one.

Since the latest round of the Palestinian rallies began in late March, scores of Palestinians have been martyred -- and thousands injured -- by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of 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 more than 2 million inhabitants of many basic commodities.