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GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian nurse on Friday as she tried to help a wounded protester at the Gaza border, according to health officials and a witness, while Israel said militants had attacked its troops with gunfire and a grenade.<\/p>\n
Razan Al-Najar\u2019s death brought to 119 the number of Palestinians killed in weekly demonstrations launched on March 30 in the Gaza Strip, an enclave controlled by the Islamist group Hamas and long subject to grinding Israeli and Egyptian embargoes.<\/p>\n
Najar, a 21-year-old volunteer medic, was shot as she ran toward the fortified border fence, east of the south Gaza city of Khan Younis, in a bid to reach a casualty, a witness said.<\/p>\n
Wearing a white uniform, \u201cshe raised her hands high in a clear way, but Israeli soldiers fired and she was hit in the chest,\u201d the witness, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.<\/p>\n
An Israeli military spokeswoman had no immediate comment on Najar\u2019s killing. Israeli officers have previously said that army snipers target only people posing a threat, but that the bullets can sometimes run through them or ricochet, hitting bystanders.<\/p>\n
Gazan medical officials said at least 100 Palestinians were wounded by army gunfire during Friday\u2019s mass demonstrations.<\/p>\n
In a separate statement, the Israeli military said its troops had acted to disperse \u201cthousands of rioters\u201d at five locations.<\/p>\n
It said that \u201can IDF (Israel Defense Forces) vehicle was fired upon and a suspect was identified crossing the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip and planting a grenade which exploded as he returned to the Strip.\u201d<\/p>\n
There have been no Israeli casualties during the border confrontations, but Israel has reported extensive damage to farmland from firebomb-bearing kites flown over from Gaza.<\/p>\n
The surge in violence at the border crescendoed this week to the most intensive shelling exchanges between Israel and Hamas and another Palestinian armed faction since a 2014. But the violence, which caused no fatalities, was reined in with Egyptian cease-fire mediation.<\/p>\n
In the protests, billed as the \u201cGreat March of Return,\u201d Palestinians have been calling for the right to return to lands lost to Israel during the 1948 war of its creation. Israel calls them a ploy to breach its border and deflect scrutiny from Hamas\u2019 governance problems.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s lethal response has drawn international censure.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s turnout of protesters was less than in previous weeks, but is expected to grow next week as Palestinians mark the anniversary of Israel\u2019s capture of the Gaza Strip and West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war.<\/p>\n
Israel quit Gaza in 2005, but has elsewhere deepened settlements on occupied land. The demonstrations come at a time of growing frustration over the prospects for an independent Palestinian state or even a revival of peace talks, stalled since 2014.<\/p>\n
At her house in Khan Younis, Najar\u2019s mother collapsed in grief as she was handed her daughter\u2019s blood-stained uniform.<\/p>\n
A statement from Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry mourned Najar as a \u201cmartyr.\u201d Interviewed by Reuters interview in April, she said she would see the border protests through until their end.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am returning and not retreating,\u201d Najar\u2019s last Facebook post said. \u201cHit me with your bullets. I am not afraid.\u201dAN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian nurse on Friday as she tried to help a wounded protester at the Gaza border, according to health officials and a witness, while Israel said militants had attacked its troops with gunfire and a grenade. Razan Al-Najar\u2019s death brought to 119 the number of Palestinians killed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n