Gazan teen dies of Israeli gunfire wounds sustained in anti-occupation protests

A Palestinian teenage boy has died less than a day after being shot by Israeli military forces during clashes between Israeli troopers and a group of Palestinian protesters participating in an anti-occupation rally along the border between the besieged Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied territories.

Palestinian medical sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 16-year-old Ahmad Misbah Abu Toyour died on Saturday morning at the European Hospital in the city of Khan Yunis, located about 25 kilometers south of Gaza City.

Another Palestinian teenager, Bilal Mustafa Khafaja, 17, was also fatally shot in the chest by an Israeli army sniper east of the border town of Rafah, located 30 kilometers south of Gaza City, during the Friday rallies.  

Some 400 demonstrators sustained injuries as well.

Khafaja was laid to rest during a funeral attended by his relatives and hundreds of Palestinians in Rafah on Saturday.

The Gaza Ministry of Health said in a statement that a total of 147 people had been admitted to hospitals and medical centers across Gaza Strip to receive medical treatment. One hundred protesters were struck with live bullets.

There were also 35 children among the injured, of whom 12 had suffered gunshot wounds.

The ministry also said that three paramedics and three journalists were also injured in the anti-occupation protest rallies.

Nearly 175 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces ever since anti-occupation protest rallies began in the Gaza Strip on March 30. A total of 19,139 Palestinians have also sustained injuries.

The Gaza clashes reached their peak on May 14, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided this year with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.

On June 13, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution, sponsored by Turkey and Algeria, condemning Israel for Palestinian civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip.

The resolution, which had been put forward on behalf of Arab and Muslim countries, garnered a strong majority of 120 votes in the 193-member assembly, with 8 votes against and 45 abstentions.

The resolution called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to make proposals within 60 days “on ways and means for ensuring the safety, protection, and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation,” including “recommendations regarding an international protection mechanism.”

It also called for “immediate steps towards ending the closure and the restrictions imposed by Israel on movement and access into and out of the Gaza Strip.”

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