Ramallah, October 5 (RHC)-- Israeli forces continue to target the Palestinians who take part in anti-occupation protests along the fence between the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied territories, killing a young man and injuring dozens of others in the latest such protest.

The Gazan Health Ministry said 28-year-old Alaa Nizar Ayesh Hemdan was killed by Israeli forces during the latest protest on Friday.  A spokesman for the ministry added that 54 other Palestinians were injured during the protests, 22 of them with live ammunition.

The “Great March of Return” rallies have been held every week since March 30 last year. The Palestinians want the return of those driven out of their homeland by Israeli aggression.
Israeli troops have killed at least 307 Palestinians since the beginning of the rallies and wounded more than 18,000 others, according to the Gazan Health Ministry.

In March, a United Nations (UN) fact-finding mission found that Israeli forces committed rights violations during their crackdown against the Palestinian protesters in Gaza that may amount to war crimes.

Gaza has been under Israeli siege since June 2007, which has caused a decline in living standards.  Israel has also launched three major wars against the enclave since 2008, killing thousands of Gazans each time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor infrastructure.