Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian teens in Gaza

The Gazan Health Ministry said that a 17-year-old boy identified as Ali Sami Ali al-Ashqar was killed in the northern part of Gaza on Friday.

According to the report, another boy, 14, was killed east of Gaza City. His identity was not immediately known.

Ashraf al-Qedra, the spokesman for the ministry, added that Israeli forces injured 76 others, noting that 46 of them were wounded by live ammunition.

Palestinians have been holding weekly rallies in Gaza since last year to protest the siege on the enclave and stress the right to return of the Palestinians who have been externally displaced by Israeli aggression since 1948.

At least 307 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces ever since the anti-occupation protest rallies began in the Gaza Strip on March 30, 2018. Over 18,000 Palestinians have also sustained injuries.

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.