Gazans bid farewell to youth martyred by Israel

Hundreds of Palestinians paid farewell on Saturday to a youth, who was martyred by Israeli gunfire during anti-occupation protests in the Gaza Strip a day earlier.

Mourners buried the body of Abdullah Abdul Aal, 24, in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amid chants for holding Israel accountable for its violations against Palestinian protesters.

At least 30 other Palestinians were injured by Israeli army fire during Friday’s protests near Gaza’s buffer zone with Israel, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Since the Gaza rallies began in March of last year, nearly 270 demonstrators have been martyred -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli troops deployed near the buffer zone.

Demonstrators demand the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel’s 12-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.