Two Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire following protests along the fence separating besieged Gaza from Israel, the enclave’s health ministry has announced.
The health ministry spokesman, Ashraf al-Qudra, told AFP the two men, aged 18 and 29, were shot in separate incidents during a resumption of protests along the fractious border. He did not announce their identities.
GAZA|| another Palestinian, shot and murdered by the Israeli occupation gunfire east of Gaza near the Gaza-Israel separation fence, during the ongoing massive demonstrations .#GreatReturnMarch
— Great Return March (@GreatReturnMa) March 22, 2019
The news comes amid calls from the top UN human rights body for the UN human rights chief to strengthen her office’s presence in Palestinian areas. This follows an investigation that found Israeli soldiers may have committed war crimes in a deadly response to Gaza protests last year.
UN investigators concluded that Israel has committed serious human rights violations by shooting at unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza over the past year.
Another young Palestinian assassinated by the illegal occupiers ?? the martyr Khaled Al-Akhshm (18)was shot by the Zionist terrorist occupation forces in Gaza during the peaceful #GreatReturnMarch ?? Gaza ??
RIP my angel, martyrs never die ???✌?
??? pic.twitter.com/U5KLBpTc9P— Great Return March (@Palestine_pss) March 22, 2019
The Human Rights Council made the request to increase the monitoring presence in a resolution that passed 23-8 with 15 abstentions, a vote loaded with political implications that quickly drew accusations of bias from the Israeli government.
Five central and eastern European countries joined Australia, Fiji, and Brazil opposing the measure. Britain and many EU countries abstained.
It is imperative that we understand the layered meanings behind the ‘Great March of Return.’ Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza did not risk their lives over the last year simply because they required urgent medicine and food supplies https://t.co/rEw54kt5B1 pic.twitter.com/s6F5a9bpU3
— Ramzy Baroud (@RamzyBaroud) March 15, 2019
At least 252 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since March 2018, the majority shot during the weekly border protests, while others have been hit by tank fire or air strikes in response to violence from Gaza.
The weekly protests, dubbed the “Great Return March”, have been taking place for nearly a year. Palestinians have gathered along the fence separating Gaza from Israel, for non-violent marches to demand an end to the Israeli siege on Gaza and the right for Palestinians to return to their homes lost since Israel’s creation in 1948.
(Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, PC, Social Media)
I am from Vancouver,Canada and I wanted to say that Palestine has been occupied for many decades going back to 1948.Thousands of Palestinians have been killed since then fighting against Israeli occupation and Israeli Apartheid.The majority of people in the world supports the Palestinian People in this fight.The Camp David Peace Plan and the Oslo Agreement were insults to the Palestinian People and were condemned by the Palestinian People and Gov’ts around the world.The present US peace Plan is also a failure and has been condemned.It is up to the Palestinian People to decide what kind of peace plan they wants not the US Gov’t or Israel.Israeli Occupation is an obstacle to peace.