Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City, on Jan. 25, 2019. One Palestinian demonstrator was killed and at least 22 others injured on Friday during clashes with Israeli soldiers stationed on the border area between the eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, medics said. (Xinhua)
GAZA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- One Palestinian demonstrator was killed and at least 22 others injured on Friday during clashes with Israeli soldiers stationed on the border area between the eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, medics said.
Ashraf al-Qedra, Gaza's health ministry spokesman, told reporters that Eihab Aabed, 25, was shot dead in his chest by Israeli gunfire in the east of Rafah town in southern Gaza.
Among the 22 injured is a local photojournalist and a paramedic, he said, adding that dozens suffered suffocation after inhaling the Israeli tear gas.
The Hamas-led highest commission of the Great March of Return called on the Gazans to join the weekly protests in the eastern Gaza Strip close to the fence of the border with Israel, which began in March last year.
Eyewitnesses said hundreds of demonstrators approached the border fence, waved Palestinian flags, chanted anti-Israel slogans and threw percussion bombs at the soldiers.
Explosions heard in eastern Gaza City were a result of release of the booby-trapped fire balloons, they added.
The Israeli media reported that a fire balloon was released from eastern Gaza into southern Israel.
Eyewitnesses said Israeli soldiers fired intensively tear gas canisters, live gunshots and rubber-coated metal bullets to disperse the demonstrators.
No injuries were reported, according to local media reports in Gaza.
Security sources in Gaza said an Israeli army tank stationed at the border between the northeastern Gaza Strip and Israel opened fire on Friday afternoon at a military lookout post in the area, with no injuries reported.
Tension between Israel and Islamic Hamas movement is growing up after Hamas refused to receive the third installment of the Qatari grant, saying it refuses to trade calm for money and insists on carrying on the the weekly anti-Israel protests.
Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, told reporters during the protests in eastern Gaza city that the Qatari grant has been used to pay the salaries of teachers and doctors "and it had never been used in buying weapons as Israel claims."
