Gaza teen dies of wounds from clashes with Israeli troops

A Palestinian teenager has succumbed to wounds he received during clashes with Israeli troops in the besieged Gaza Strip, says the Palestinian Health Ministry.

"Mahmud al-Gharabli, 16, died after being injured in the head east of Gaza City on May 14," said ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra on Wednesday.

Protests along the Gaza fence since March 30 have led to clashes with Israeli forces, where at least 135 Palestinians, including 14 children, have been killed. Palestinian protesters demand their right to return to their homeland. Over 15,000 Palestinians have also sustained injuries.

PressTV-Israel must be held accountable for Gaza killings: HRW

Human Rights Watch has called on the international community to hold Israel responsible for killing Gazans.

On May 14, Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinians who had gathered near the Gaza fence in protest against the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem al-Quds. Over 60 Palestinians were shot dead and more than 2,700 wounded by Israeli snipers who had been positioned along the fence.

Palestinians protest demolition of Bedouin village

Meanwhile, scuffles have erupted between Israeli forces and Palestinian demonstrators trying to halt the razing of a Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank.

On Wednesday, protesters tussled with Israeli troops at Khan al-Ahmar located to the east of Jerusalem al-Quds and tried to stop a bulldozer.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that 35 people were injured, four of whom taken to hospital.

According to the rights group B'Tselem, 11 people were arrested during the protests.    

The protests were held after the Israeli military issued a warrant for the 173 residents of Khan al-Ahmar on Tuesday, permitting soldiers to block access roads to the village.

"Today they are proceeding with infrastructure work to facilitate the demolition and forcible transfer of residents," said B'Tselem's spokesman.

High ranking Palestinian official Saeb Erekat slammed the demolition plans, while calling on the international community to block the Tel Aviv regime's move.

"Are we coming to see one day that Israel can be held accountable?" he said.

"If not, it means you're pushing this region towards a deeper hole of violence and counter-violence and extremes," he added.

United Nations' Middle East peace envoy, Nickolay Mladenov also slammed Israel's demolition measures.

"Such actions are contrary to international law and undermine the two-state solution," he said in a statement.

In recent years, Israel has expanded the authority of its military to demolish Palestinian homes in the occupied territories. The Israeli army can now execute demolition orders in the so-called Area C of the West Bank just days after they are issued. 

In recent months, the Israeli regime has ordered the demolition of Palestinian homes as a punitive measure in response to a growing number of alleged attacks by Palestinians against Israeli settlers, who constantly wage attacks against Palestinian residents and their properties.

Read More:

• 780 Palestinian homes razed in occupied W Bank's Area C in 2016

• Israeli army to demolish over 50 Palestinian homes in West Bank

Residents say Israel is relentlessly destroying Palestinians’ homes and livelihoods in order to make way for more illegal settlements.

International bodies and rights groups argue that Israel’s sustained demolitions of Palestinian homes and structures in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds are an attempt by the Tel Aviv regime to uproot Palestinians from their native territories, and confiscate more land for expansion of illegal settlements.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian lands have created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

The Palestinian Authority wants the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinians state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

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