UPDATE - Israeli troops kill 4 Palestinians at Gaza border

REVISES HEADLINE, DECK AND LEDE, ADDS DETAILS

By Ayse Sumeyra Aydogdu and Hamdi Yildiz

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Four Palestinians, including a teenager, were martyred Friday in the blockaded Gaza Strip during a rally against Israel’s decades-long occupation and an Israeli airstrike.

The Health Ministry in Gaza said in a written statement that two people, including 19-year-old Raid Abu Tair, were killed by Israeli gunfire in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis during the rally.

It said the others were martyred in an Israeli airstrike targeting the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing.

A total of 51 people were also injured in both incidents, the ministry said.

According to the Israeli army, two of its soldiers were injured at the Gaza border.

In response, the army said it destroyed a target belonging to the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

Protesters in Gaza demand the right of Palestinian refugees to 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 12-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.

Palestinians have been protesting against Israel since March 2018 as part of the "Great March of Return", during which Israeli troops have opened fire on civilian crowds with live bullets.

At least 200 Palestinians have been martyred since the beginning of the demonstrations.

*Writing by Nilay Kar Onum and Can Erozden