GAZA, April 3, 2018 (WAFA) – The Israeli army Tuesday killed a Palestinian man from Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip during clashes east of al-Bureij refugee camp.
Medical sources identified the man as 25-year-old Ahmad Arafeh. He was hit with a direct bullet in the chest.
With the death of Arafeh, the death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 17 since the beginning of tensions last Friday. Meanwhile, over 1,500 Palestinians sustained injuries that range from moderate to critical.
Thousands of Palestinians Friday launched the Great March of Return in the besieged Gaza Strip to demand their right of return to their villages and towns they were forcibly displaced from in 1948.
The peaceful protests began on March 30, which coincided with the 42nd anniversary of the Land Day, which marks the day Israeli forces killed six Palestinians during protests against land confiscation in 1976.
The 46-day mass protests are expected to continue until May 15, which marks the 70th anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe), in which over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes to make way for the creation of Israel in 1948.
Despite ongoing international condemnation, Israel continues to use lethal force in suppressing the protesters, who are unarmed and are vulnerable in the face of the heavily armed Israeli soldiers stationed at the borders.
M.H.
