Two Palestinians die of gunshot wounds from Israeli fire at Gaza protests

An 18 and 20-year-old died overnight of wounds sustained in the weekly rallies

TOPSHOT - Palestinian protestors pull barbed wire from the border fence with Israel, in Rafah in southern Gaza Strip on April 20, 2018.
A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, medical sources said, as demonstrations entered their fourth week along the Gaza-Israel border. / AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB
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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.

Abdullah Shamali, 20, died overnight of "bullet wounds to his belly" sustained on Friday in Rafah, near the enclave's border with Israel, a health ministry spokesman said.

Shamali was one of five Palestinian demonstrators, including a 15-year-old, killed or fatally wounded in Gaza on Friday.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians in the coastal enclave, wedged between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean, have gathered at the border on consecutive Fridays to call for Palestinian refugees to be allowed to return to their former homes now inside Israel.

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Some protesters have launched stones or burning tires at Israeli soldiers.

Israeli forces have responded with live ammunition, wounding hundreds in addition to those killed.

The Israeli army says its fores only open fire in self-defence or to stop protestors attempting to breach the barrier separating the territory from Israel.

More than 440 demonstrators suffered bullet wounds or gas inhalation on Friday, rescuers said.

Israel has drawn harsh criticism from rights groups along with calls for investigations by the United Nations or the European Union.

Israel has for more than a decade imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza, fighting three wars with Islamist movement Hamas since 2008.