Mourners and relatives gather around the body of Palestinian Ali Sa'eed Aloul, 55, during his funeral in the southern Gaza Strip City of Rafah, on Aug. 11, 2018. Two Palestinians were killed and 242 injured on Friday during protests and clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel, medics said. (Xinhua/Khaled Omar)
GAZA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Two Palestinians were killed and 242 injured on Friday during protests and clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel, medics said.
Ashraf al-Qedra, health ministry spokesman in Gaza, told reporters that Abdulla al-Qutatti, a 20-year-old volunteering paramedic and Ali Sa'eed Aloul, 55, were killed east of Rafah town in southern Gaza Strip, adding that five of the injured are in serious condition.
Among the casualties, there are 26 children, five paramedics and two journalists, he added.
Protests and clashes that broke out between hundreds of Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers stationed at the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel had turned fierce during Friday.
Although Israel and Gaza Hamas-led militant groups had reached a calm deal on Thursday, hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated on Friday afternoon close to the border.
The demonstrations in eastern Gaza Strip on Friday are part of the weekly protests and rallies, which have been going on since March 30 on weekly basis, known as "the Great March of Return."
On Friday, activists of the Hamas-led high commission of the rallies called on the coastal enclave's populations to join the 20th Friday march, which was called "Friday of liberty and life."
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered from all over the Gaza Strip and went to demonstrate at the border area with Israel. They burned tires, waved Palestinian flags, tried to cut parts of the barbed wire of the fence of the border and flew arson balloons.
Hazem Qassem, Hamas spokesman in Gaza said in an emailed press statement that in spite of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, "our people will carry on with their marches of return until it achieves its goals, mainly lifting the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip."
"Every round of confrontation, the Israeli machine of killing tries to break our people's determination on keeping their struggle and every time it fails, so our people will join today the marches of return to challenge the Israeli machine of war," he said.
Gaza Health Ministry said that since March 30, the Israeli army shot dead 160 Palestinian demonstrators and wounded more than 17,000 others; most of them were hospitalized after being shot with Israeli soldiers' gunfire.
Friday's protests came one day after Egypt and United Nations Special Envoy Nicolai Mladenov brokered a calm agreement between Israel and Gaza Hamas-led militant groups following two days of exchanging fire in the Gaza Strip.
Since Tuesday, a pregnant woman, her female toddler and three Hamas militants were killed in the Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in response to militants' rockets fires from the coastal enclave into Israel.
Calm has dominated in the Gaza Strip on Friday following two days of military confrontations between Israel and Gaza Hamas-led military groups which left five more Palestinians killed, three militants and two civilians, and more than 40 injured.
The exchange of fire in Gaza was reached following international and regional mediation overnight. Both Egypt and UN special envoy Nicolai Mladenov exerted efforts on Thursday to stop more military escalation between the two sides.
Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza said in an emailed press statement that the recent rounds of fighting with the Israeli occupation proved that "this entity (Israel) is very weak and can be easily defeated."
Abu Zuhri stressed that the Palestinian armed resistance, mainly Hamas will be on alert and ready to retaliate any violation, adding that Hamas will keep defending its people before any Israeli aggression.
