A Palestinian protester was killed and 49 were wounded by Israeli army fire during demonstrations on the Gaza-Israel border, the Gaza Health Ministry has said.

The death brings to 41 the number of protesters killed since weekly border rallies began in late March. More than 1,700 protesters have been wounded by army fire during that period.

The ministry identified the protester killed on Friday as a 40-year-old man who was shot in the chest east of the southern town of Khan Younis.

It said seven of the 49 protesters hit by Israeli fire were in a serious condition and that dozens of others were overcome by tear gas inhalation.

The protest came just three days ahead of what the leader of Gaza’s ruling Hamas group has said will be a march by tens of thousands who could burst through the border fence into Israel. </s> Two Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces near the fence separating Gaza from Israel, according to health officials.

Karim Abu Fatayer, 30, died after being shot in the head by an Israeli sniper.

Sa’di Akram Muammar, 26, was killed east of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The number of wounded protesters has risen to 270.

Since protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 166 Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave. </s> GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - The Health Ministry in Gaza says two Palestinian youths have died of wounds they sustained in Israeli fire during protests near the Israel-Gaza border.

Monday's deaths raise to 34 the numbers of Palestinians killed in mass protests along the border since March 30.

The two were identified as an 18-year-old who was shot in the head earlier this month and a 20-year-old son of a senior Hamas commander killed in clashes with more radical extremists in 2009.

The Islamic militant group Hamas controls the Gaza Strip and has organized the protests.

The demonstrations are set to climax with a massive march to the border on May 15, when Palestinians mark the "nakba," or catastrophe, of their uprooting during the war over Israel's creation in 1948. </s> It is one year since tens of thousands of Palestinians took part in a Great March of Return to the Gaza-Israel border launching regular mass protests along the border that have drawn a deadly response from the Israeli army

A Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire on the Gaza border early Saturday, the territory's health ministry said, hours ahead of planned mass protests.

The ministry said Mohammed Saad, 20, died after being hit in the head with shrapnel caused by Israeli army fire east of Gaza City.

Protesters at the site said he had been taking part in an overnight rally ahead of the main demonstration scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

They said he was more than 100 metres (yards) from the heavily-fortified border fence when he was hit and had been on crutches due to a previous injury.

Thousands are expected to demonstrate on Saturday afternoon at various points along the Gaza-Israel border, one year after the start of regular mass protests demanding the right of return for Palestinian refugees to homes now in Israel.

At least 259 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the protests began, the vast majority along the border.

Two Israeli soldiers have also been killed. </s> Israeli troops shoot dead 10 Palestinian protesters, including one journalist, and wound at least 200 along the Israel-Gaza border, Palestinian medical officials say, raising the death toll to 32 in the week-long disturbances.

Israeli troops have shot dead nine Palestinian protesters and wounded at least 200 along the Israel-Gaza border, Palestinian medical officials say, raising the death toll to 31 in the week-long disturbances.

They said the demonstrators, including two teenage boys aged 16 and 17, were killed at protest sites along the frontier during a round of daily demonstrations that began on March 30 and are known as "The Great March of Return".

Gaza health officials said a well-known Palestinian journalist also died from a gunshot wound sustained while covering the demonstrations.

They said Yasser Murtaja was among two people to die overnight after being shot on Friday. Their deaths raised Friday's death toll to nine.

Murtaja was shot in the southern town of Khuzaa, which was engulfed in thick black smoke caused by burning tires set alight by demonstrators.

He was over 100 metres from the border, wearing a flak jacket marked "press" and holding his camera when he was shot.

The Israeli military has said it fired only at "instigators" involved in violence. It had no immediate comment.

The day of violence, which saw bigger Palestinian crowds than in recent days but not as large as when the demonstration began last Friday, calmed down as night descended.

The protesters, including Palestinian refugees and their descendants seeking to regain homes in what is now Israel that were lost during its 1948-49 independence war, have set up tent encampments a few hundred metres inside Gaza.

Large groups of youths ventured much closer to the no-go zone along the border, risking live fire from Israeli troops to roll burning tyres at the barrier and throw stones.

"I have two kids, a boy and a girl, and if I die, God will take care of them."

Refugees comprise most of the two million population of Israeli-blockaded Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamist militant movement Hamas.

With black tyre smoke and Israeli tear gas rising into the air, Palestinian youths used T-shirts, cheap medical masks and perfume to try and protect themselves.

Israel also tried to douse burning tyres with fire hoses from its side of the border.

The Israeli military has stationed sharpshooters on its side of the frontier to deter Palestinians from trying to break through the fence into Israeli territory.

Israel said many of those killed were militants.

'Demonstrators posing no immediate threat to life'

David Keyes, an Israeli Government spokesman, accused Hamas of having instigated violent protests along the border.

"This is a travesty for the Palestinian people that the Hamas Government is encouraging its people to attack Israel, it is encouraging its people to commit acts of violence," he said.

Hamas' Gaza leader, Yehya Al-Sinwar, spoke at a protest encampment to praise those who turned out to confront the "enemy who besieges us".

He said the demonstrations would continue, telling the crowds: "We will uproot the borders, we will pluck out their hearts, and we will pray in Jerusalem."

Earlier in the day, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem urged protesters to keep the rallies peaceful.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who holds little sway in Gaza, condemned what he described as Israel's "acts of killing and oppression conducted … against the peaceful uprising".

Seventeen of the now 27 Palestinian dead were killed by Israeli gunfire on the first day of protests a week ago, medics said.

The deaths drew international criticism of Israel's response, which human rights groups said involved live fire against demonstrators posing no immediate threat to life.

"We are saying that Israel has obligations to ensure that excessive force is not employed," UN human rights spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell said in Geneva.

Israel has said it was doing what it must to defend its border and that its troops had been responding with riot dispersal means and fire "in accordance with the rules of engagement".

The Israeli Government has ruled out any right of return for Palestinian refugees, fearing that the country would lose its Jewish majority.

"We condemn leaders and protesters who call for violence or who send protesters — including children — to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed," said President Donald Trump's Middle East peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt.

The protest action is set to wind up on May 15, when Palestinians mark the "Naqba", or "Catastrophe" — when hundreds of thousands fled or were driven out of their homes during violence that culminated in war in May 1948 between the newly created state of Israel and its Arab neighbours. </s> Six Palestinians killed in new border clashes

GAZA CITY: Six Palestinians, including two boys aged 12 and 14, were killed in clashes with Israeli forces along the Gaza border Friday, the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled strip said.

Nasser Mosabih, 12, was shot in the head in clashes along the frontier east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP, on what was one of the bloodiest days since protests began on March 30.

Fourteen-year-old Mohammed al-Houm, was shot dead “by live ammunition from the (Israeli) occupation forces” east of Al-Bureij in central Gaza, Qudra said. Four adult men were also killed in widespread clashes along the border, with a further 210 people hospitalised, the spokesman added.

The Israeli army said some 20,000 “rioters” had gathered at multiple sites along the border.It said the protestors hurled “grenades and explosive devices in several different locations”. It said troops were firing “in accordance with standard operating procedures.”

The army declined to comment on the reported deaths.Palestinians have been protesting at least weekly along the Gaza border since March.At least 193 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in that time, the majority during border protests.

Smaller numbers have been hit by airstrikes or tank fire. One Israeli soldier was killed by a Palestinian sniper. The protests are demanding the right of Palestinian refugees to be allowed to homes their families fled from in the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel and which are now in Israel. Israel says any such mass return would mean the end of it as a Jewish state and accuses Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas of orchestrating the protests. Friday’s protests were bigger than those in recent weeks. </s> A 29-year-old Gaza man has died of injuries from Israeli army fire during last week’s mass protests along the Gaza border with Israel, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Separately, Israeli defence authorities confirmed that Israel is holding the bodies of two alleged Hamas members.

With Monday’s death, this would raise to 18 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops on Friday.

Hamas said Friday’s mass march was the first in six weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade.

Israel rejected allegations of excessive force, saying it defended its border against what it claims is a Hamas attack under the guise of mass protests.

It said troops were instructed to target “the main instigators”.

Rights groups say shooting Palestinians who do not pose a threat to soldiers’ lives is unlawful. </s> A Palestinian man shot by Israeli forces during a mass protest along the besieged Gaza Strip's southern border has died of his wounds.

Abdullah Mohammed al-Shuhri, 28, was shot in the chest in Khuza'a, near the town of Khan Younis, on Thursday, Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for Gaza's health ministry, said in a statement.

Al-Shuhri died at the European Hospital, where he was transferred to receive treatment shortly after he was shot during a sit-in that is part of the Great March of Return.

Earlier on Thursday, Mohammed Abu Hajeela, 31, was killed in an Israeli air raid and succumbed to his wounds in Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital.

A total of 34 Palestinians have now been shot dead since the start of the protests that began on March 30, when tens of thousands took to the border area with Israel demanding the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

They have also injured more than 3,000 people since the start of protests, according to Gaza's health ministry.

The demonstrations will continue until the Nakba anniversary on May 15, which will mark 70 years since 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their villages and towns by Zionist militias in 1948.

Around 70 percent of Gaza's two million population were forced from their homes and now live in a territory the size of the US city of Detroit - about 360sq km - which has been described as "the world's largest open-air prison".

Israel has drawn sharp criticism for its open-fire orders along the border, including its warnings that those approaching or trying to damage the fence would be targeted.

On Saturday, journalist Yaser Murtaja, 30, was killed by Israeli forces while covering the protests, despite him wearing a flak jacket clearly marked with the word "Press".

Israeli officials, including Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, have praised Israel's troops for "guarding the country's borders".

On April 1, Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli defence minister, rejected calls for an independent investigation into the killings. </s> A Palestinian teenager has died of his wounds a day after being shot by Israeli forces in clashes along the Gaza border, the Hamas-controlled territory's health ministry said Saturday.

Azzam Oweida, 15, was hit in the head during protests in southern Gaza on Friday, the ministry said.

His death brought to four the number of people killed or fatally wounded during a fifth consecutive Friday of protests in which thousands of Gazans have gathered near the heavily-guarded border.

Most protesters were peaceful but some threw stones and burned tyres.

Forty-five Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of what organisers have dubbed the Great March of Return on March 30, with more than 1,500 wounded.

No Israelis have been reported hurt.

The Israeli army said around 10,000 people had taken part in "riots" along the border Friday, saying troops responded with "riot dispersal means".

The army has accused Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out attacks.

The protesters are calling for Palestinians to be allowed back to their historic homelands seized by Israel in 1948.
A further two Palestinian protestors die, bringing the death toll at the Israeli-Gazan border to 34 since March 30.