Palestinian boy shot by Israeli military dies from wounds

Palestinian boy shot by Israeli military dies from wounds
Fourteen-year-old Abdul Raouf Ismail Salha died after being shot by Israeli forces in the besieged Gaza Strip
2 min read
14 January, 2019
Abdul Raouf Ismail Salha died on Monday [Twitter]

A Palestinian boy who was shot and seriously injured on Friday by Israel during protests at the Gaza border fence with Israel died on Monday, Palestinian medical sources say.

Abdul Raouf Ismail Salha, 14, from the northern Gaza city of Jabaliya, was critically injured after participating in the Great Return March until he succumbed to his wounds.

His death comes days after Gaza mourned a woman being shot dead by Israeli forces during the weekly protests.

Amal al-Taramsi, a 43-year-old activist who had regularly attended the protests, was shot the day before. Al-Mezan, a Palestinian human rights group, said she was around 200 metres from the fence when she was shot in the head.

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered Saturday for her funeral. Her death marks this year's first fatality from the weekly mass demonstrations.

Gaza border tensions have soared since the 30 March start of what the Palestinians call the "Great March of Return", a mass protest movement demanding the right for Palestinians to return to homes they fled or were expelled from during the war surrounding Israel's creation.

The protests also call for the lifting of a crippling decade-long Israeli and Egyptian blockade.

Protesters have often moved right up to the border fence every Friday and occasionally breached it.

Over 230 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly by Israeli fire during border clashes but also by air strikes.

Two Israeli soldiers have been killed over the same period.

The demonstrations draw Palestinians of all ages, but most gather several hundred metres from the fence. Israeli forces across the border often respond with tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and even live fire.