June 8, 2018: Haitham Mohammad Khalil al-Jamal, 15, was killed by Israeli army fire in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, while participating in a non-violent protest against the imprisonment of Gaza by the Israeli military, which has surrounded the coastal strip since 2005, controlling land,sea and air.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has confirmed that Israeli soldiers killed four Palestinians, including one child, and injured 618 others, including five journalists, 26 children and 14 women, and added that 117 of the wounded were shot with live fire, among them eight who suffer very serious injuries.
It added that the soldiers also killed Emad Nabil Abu Drabi, 26, near the Great Return Camp, east of Jabalia, in northern Gaza.
In addition, the soldiers killed Yousef al-Faseeh, 29, with live fire, east of Gaza City.
Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra, the spokesperson of the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip, said the soldiers shot at least 92 Palestinians with live fire, and 19 others were injured by shrapnel from the bullets.
He added that the army also shot five journalists, including Mohammad al-Baba, who works for Agence France Presse. He was injured with a live round in his thigh.
Dr. al-Qedra also stated that among the wounded Palestinians are 26 children and 14 women. The rest of the injured Palestinians suffered cuts and bruises, in addition to the severe effects of teargas inhalation.
One of the wounded Palestinians was directly shot with a high-velocity gas bomb which lodged in his upper jaw and settled in his mouth, moderately wounding him and causing him to suffer the severe effects of teargas inhalation and nearly suffocate.
It is worth mentioning that thousands of Palestinians participated in the Great Return March protests, Friday June 8th, in several areas in the coastal region.
In a statement, Dr. al-Qedra said the soldiers killed 127 Palestinians, and injured 14700 others, including women, children, medics and journalists, in the Gaza Strip, since the beginning of the Great Return March on Palestinian Land, on March 30th, 2018.
The protests began on Land Day, on March 30th, and have continued each Friday through Nakba Day on May 15th, the 70th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Haitham was from Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Source: IMEMC