Palestinian man killed, scores injured in anti-occupation protests

The Gaza Health Ministry said 25-year-old Karim Muhammad was killed by Israeli fire in the eastern Gaza Strip on Friday.

Israeli forces also left 312 people wounded, four of whom are in a critical condition.

Tensions have been running high near the fence since March 30, which marked the start of a series of protests dubbed “The Great March of Return.”

Palestinian protesters demand the right to return for those driven out of their homeland.

The clashes in Gaza reached their peak on May 14, the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day, or the Day of Catastrophe, which coincided this year with Washington's relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.

Ashraf al-Qedra, the spokesman for the ministry, said Israeli fire had taken the lives of more than 180 Palestinians since March 30. Over 20,100 Palestinians have also sustained injuries.

On June 13, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution, sponsored by Turkey and Algeria, condemning Israel for Palestinian civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza has been under Israeli siege since June 2007, causing a decline in living standards as well as unprecedented unemployment and poverty.

Israel has also launched several wars on the Palestinian sliver, the last of which began in early July 2014 and ended in late August the same year.

The Israeli military aggression killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians and injured over 11,100 others.

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