Palestinian teenager shot dead by Israel on Gaza border

Palestinian teenager shot dead by Israel on Gaza border
A 17-year-old Palestinian is the latest to victim of harsh Israeli crackdown on protests along the Gaza border, after being shot to the head by Israeli forces.
2 min read
28 June, 2018
Over 145 Palestinians have been killed in clashes since mass protests broke out [Getty]

A Palestinian teenager has been the latest victim of Israel's bloody assault on protests along Gaza's border, after he was shot in the head on Thursday.

The 17-year-old was shot by Israeli forces on the border of the besieged enclave earlier on Thursday, and succumbed to his wounds, the health ministry said.

Abdelfattah Abu Azoum was shot near Rafah, in southern Gaza, and died from a wound to his head. The Israeli army said the man and another were seeking to breach the border.

Israeli security forces have killed over 145 Palestinians since protests began 30 March.

Dubbed the "Great Return March", the demonstrations have have centred on a demand for the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, after they were expelled following the 1948 creation of Israel.

They are also calling for an end to the decade-long blockade of the Palestinian enclave, which has crippled civilian life in Gaza.

Earlier in the month, the UN General Assembly adopted, by a strong majority, an Arab-backed resolution condemning Israel for the killing of protesters.

The resolution condemned Israel's use of "excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force" against Palestinians and called for protection measures for civilians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The US amendment condemning Hamas received 62 votes in favour, with 58 against and 42 abstentions. The US sought to challenge the ruling requiring a two-thirds majority but that was defeated in a separate vote.

The General Assembly last held a similarly contentious vote on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in December, when it rejected President Donald Trump's decision to recognise  Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the US embassy there.

The demonstrations and violence peaked on 14 May when at least 61 Palestinians were killed when Gazans protested the US transfer of its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem on the same day.

Palestinians in the West Bank protested last week in solidarity with Gaza against the punitive measures.

Security forces fired stun grenades and tear gas to disperse a rare anti-government protest which happened in defiance of a temporary ban on demonstrations announced earlier in the day.

The protesters were demanding that 83-year-old Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas drop measures against Gaza which critics say amount to collective punishment of the two million residents there.