Ankara, March 30 (TNS): At least ten seven Palestinians were martyred by the Israeli army gunfire on Friday — and more than one thousand were injured — near the Gaza Strip’s eastern border with Israel, Turkish media quoting the Palestinian Health Ministry reported.
“Since the morning, Gaza’s hospitals have received ten martyrs,” ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told Anadolu Agency.
“Two of them were taken to Gaza’s European Hospital, and a third was taken to Gaza’s Shifa medical center,” he said.
The ministry has not provided the names of the slain Palestinians.
“The two hospitals have also received hundreds of injured demonstrators,” al-Qidra added.
Since Friday morning, tens of thousands of Gazans have converged on the strip’s roughly 45-kilometer eastern border with Israel to reaffirm their right to return to their ancestral homes in historical Palestine.
Dubbed the “Great Return March”, Friday’s mass demonstrations are also intended to pressure Israel to lift its decade-long blockade of Gaza.
The rallies have been endorsed by virtually all Palestinian political factions, which have repeatedly stressed the event’s peaceful nature.
Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has suffered from a crippling Israeli/Egyptian blockade that has gutted its economy and deprived its more than 2 million inhabitants of many vital commodities.
Courtesy: Anadolu Agency
