GAZA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Two Palestinians were killed late Monday in an Israeli air strike on eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip close to the border, medics said.
Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman for the health authorities in Gaza, told reporters that the two young men, identified as Ibrahim al-Najjar and Mohamed Khader, were killed by a missile fired overnight at Khan Younis. There were no other casualties.
The Israeli army said earlier that they targeted three Palestinians who attempted to cut the barbed wire of the border fence and infiltrate into Israel. Two were hit and the third ran away.
Al-Qedra also said 95 Palestinians were wounded in clashes which broke out Monday evening between hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers stationed on the border between northern Gaza Strip and Israel.
In the protests organized by the Gaza-based highest commission of the "Great March of Return," demonstrators threw stones and burned tires close to the fence on the border, where Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and live gunshots at the demonstrators after they approached the border and cut its barbed wire.
Besides, there was a fishing boat procession off the Gaza Strip coast to defy Israeli blockade.
According to the health ministry in Gaza, Israeli forces have killed at least 177 Palestinians, and injured 19,000 others since March 30, the first day of the ongoing Palestinian "Great March of Return" rally against Israel's 12-year crippling blockade and the U.S. embassy move to the disputed holy city of Jerusalem. Efforts by Egypt and UN Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov have so far failed to broker a cease-fire agreement between Israel and the Hamas-led militant groups in the Gaza Strip.
