Five Palestinian youths were injured during clashes with Israeli forces near the border in the central and northern Gaza Strip on Friday, according to Palestinian sources.

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement that two youths were injured in the legs with live ammunition during clashes in central Gaza, and were reported to be in moderate condition.

Al-Qidra added that three other youths were lightly injured after they were hit with tear gas canisters in the northern Gaza Strip.

https://twitter.com/TheAshkenazi/status/919467257654374400

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that “dozens of Palestinians participated in violent riots” in Gaza where they threw rocks and rolled burning tires at the border fence with Israel.

Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian youth in Gaza regularly occur on Fridays near the highly militarized fence along Gaza’s border with Israel.

The United Nations and numerous human rights groups have routinely condemned Israeli authorities for their use of excessive force against Palestinians during clashes, in incidents that did not warrant a violent response.

"When we're together I feel my body is complete." Mansour & Adly from Gaza, each lost a leg in an Israeli airstrike > pic.twitter.com/l1I0RPEVsL

— Catrin Nye (@CatrinNye) October 13, 2017

At least four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces this year during clashes near the border fence in Gaza, including a 16-year-old Palestinian who was killed in July.

The nearly nine-year Israeli blockade has plunged the Gaza Strip’s some 2 million Palestinians into poverty. The destruction from three Israeli offensives over the past six years and slow reconstruction due to the blockade led the UN to warn that Gaza could be “uninhabitable” by 2020.

(Ma’an, PC, Social Media)