GAZA CITY: Two Palestinians, including a 14-year-old, were shot dead by Israeli fire in new clashes along the Gaza border on Friday, the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave said.
The ministry said the teenager was shot east of Jabalia in northern Gaza, while a medical source named him as Mustafa Abed Rabbo.
A second Palestinian, who was not immediately identified, was killed near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.
At least another 12 people were injured, the ministry said, as Palestinians again demonstrated in different spots along the border.
The Israeli army said an estimated 13,000 people were involved in protests at different locations, some of them burning tires and throwing Molotov cocktails.
Since violent protests began on March 30, at least 178 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, the majority during demonstrations.
Israel maintains a crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Scuffles at Bedouin village: Scuffles broke out between Israeli forces and dozens of pro-Palestinian activists on Friday at a village slated for demolition in the occupied West Bank.
An Israeli bulldozer sought to close off a route to the Bedouin village of Khan al Ahmar by dumping rocks and earth on it, sparking a protest that led to small clashes.
Three people were arrested, a police spokesman said.
Activists said among them was a French law professor, Frank Romano, but the police did not confirm his arrest.
The village of roughly 200 people is at risk of being demolished at any time, despite fierce criticism from key European nations.
On September 5, Israel’s supreme court upheld an order to raze the village on grounds that it was built without the proper permits.
It is extremely rare for Palestinians to be given Israeli permits to build in Area C of the West Bank, where Khan al Ahmar is situated.
The village is located in a strategic spot near Israeli settlements and along a road leading to the Dead Sea.
There have been warnings that continued settlement construction in the area could eventually divide the West Bank in two and cut it off from Jerusalem, dealing a death blow to any remaining hopes of a two-state solution.
Palestinian mission shuttered in Washington: Meanwhile, the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington ceased operations on Thursday following a demand by the United States to shut down but expressed hope the closure would be short-lived.
State Department officials on Monday ordered the office shuttered, in a bid to pressure the Palestinians to enter peace talks with Israel.
It was the latest point of tension between the administration of President Donald Trump and the Palestinians, who cut off contact with Washington after Trump recognised the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December.
“Today is the deadline” for closure, Husam Zomlot, who headed the Palestine Liberation Organization mission, said in a Facebook video addressed to “the great people of America.”
The closure came on the 25th anniversary of the Oslo accords, the first agreements between the rival Israelis and Palestinians which promised to end decades of deadly conflict, but which are now deadlocked and tarnished by soured relations.
Zomlot on Thursday denounced the “unfortunate and vindictive” US move to close the Palestinian mission. — AFP
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