Palestinian demonstrators use slingshots to hurl rocks at Israeli forces during clashes along the border with the Gaza Strip east of Khan Younis on May 18, 2018. (AFP Photo/Said Khatib)
A Palestinian shot in clashes with Israeli forces on the Gaza border succumbed to his wounds Thursday, the Hamas-run health ministry said.
Ahmed al-Assi, 21, was shot east of Khan Younis on Friday, according to a ministry statement. It said he was wounded in the head and had been in critical condition since he sustained the injury.
In two months of mass protests at the Gaza border, more than 130 Palestinians have been killed and thousands wounded by Israeli military fire. Dozens of the fatalities were members of terror groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have acknowledged.
Israel said its troops were defending the border and accused Hamas of trying to carry out terror attacks under the cover of the protests.
The protests at Israel’s border peaked on May 14, when some 40,000 Gazans protested along the fence and violent clashes took place between troops and Palestinians. The protest came on the same day that the US opened its embassy in Jerusalem.
Protesters have hurled grenades, improvised explosives and rocks at soldiers, burned tires and flown hundreds of incendiary kites and balloons into Israeli territory, sparking multiple fires.
The Israeli military says it has insisted its soldiers adhere to the rules of engagement to defend Israeli civilians and security infrastructure from attacks cloaked by the protests.