A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to throw back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City, on Feb. 22, 2019. One Palestinian teenager was killed on Friday and dozens injured in clashes between hundreds of Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers during the weekly anti-Israeli rallies and protests held in eastern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel, medics said. (Xinhua)
GAZA, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- One Palestinian teenager was killed on Friday and dozens injured in clashes between hundreds of Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers during the weekly anti-Israeli rallies and protests held in eastern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel, medics said.
Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the Health Ministry in Gaza, told reporters that Yousef al-Dayah, 15, from Gaza city, was killed after he was shot in his chest by Israeli soldiers' gunfire during the protests.
Al-Qedra also said that 41 Palestinian demonstrators were shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers' gunfire on the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, adding that dozens suffered suffocation after inhaling tear gas or being shot by rubber bullets, including a paramedic and a local photojournalist.
An Israeli army spokesman had said earlier Friday that around 8,000 Palestinians joined the weekly riots in eastern Gaza Strip, near the border with Israel, adding that they burned tires, threw stones and percussion bombs at the soldiers on the border.
On Friday, hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in eastern Gaza Strip along with the border with Israel and clashed with Israeli soldiers, eyewitnesses and field paramedics said.
They added that the demonstrations are part of the anti-Israel weekly rallies and protests which have going on since March 30 last year, better known as "the Great March of Return" to break the Israeli siege.
The eyewitnesses told local radio stations that hundreds of protesters gathered in various locations in eastern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel.
They waved Palestinian flags, burned tires, chanted anti-Israel slogans and threw stones at the soldiers stationed on the border.
Paramedics in the field said that the soldiers fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live gunshots, adding that dozens were injured and treated in the field.
The demonstrators gathered in the area in response to the call of the highest commission of the marches of return to join the 48th Friday of the rallies.
The Hamas-ruled commission insists that the marches of return against Israel will go on until achieving its goals of ending 12 years of Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.
Gaza Health Ministry's officials said that since the outbreak of the marches of return, the Israeli army shot and killed more than 250 demonstrators and wounded around 26,000 others. Around 40 percent of them were injured by live gunshots.
