The death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces in the Palestinian Territories killed since early October climbed yesterday to 160, medical sources said in Gaza City.
The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that 160 Palestinians were killed and thousands injured by the Israeli security forces in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem since early October.
The toll climbed to 160 after a 26-year-old young man was killed in clashes yesterday between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian demonstrators close to the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel.
Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra told reporters that Mohamed Qitta of the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis was killed by Israeli soldiers’ fire east of al-Bureij refugee camp east of central Gaza Strip. Earlier yesterday, a second Palestinian young man was killed and ten injured in clashes that broke out between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian protesters near the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel.
Al-Qedra told reporters that Mohamed Abu Zayed, 18, was killed and ten others injured east of al-Bureij refugee camp in eastern Gaza Strip.
Eyewitnesses said that yesterday afternoon, dozens of Palestinian young men headed to the border area between the coastal enclave and Israel to protest against Israel and in solidarity with the West Bank.
They said young men threw stones at the soldiers stationed in the area and chanted slogans in solidarity with the West Bank and against the Israeli blockade that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for eight years.
The eyewitnesses said the soldiers fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to disperse the young men. In addition to the one young man killed, ten were injured by gun shots and dozens inhaled tear gas.
On early October, a wave of violent tension broke out between Israel and the Palestinians, where 160 people were shot dead by Israeli army and security forces gunfire in West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
In the meantime, more than 25 Israelis were killed in a series of stabbings, shooting and cars ramming attacks carried out by Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The tensions between the two sides have been flaring as the peace process in the Middle East has been stalled since 2014, when nine months of fruitless talks ground to a halt.
Also yesterday, Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, said in a text message sent to reporters that one of its militants was killed by an electric shock into a tunnel in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. The group did not give details on the cause of death, saying only that 22-year-old Bassem el-Akhras died during training and preparation.
Hamas armed wing announced that nine of its members had been killed into tunnels while training confrontations with Israel.
In the summer of 2014, Israel waged a 50-day war on the Gaza Strip to rein in the Hamas movement that had fired thousands of homemade missiles into Israel.