LIVE: Seven Palestinians killed, hundreds wounded in second week of Gaza protests
Protests have begun in the Gaza Strip today, one week since the beginning of the "Great March of Return" in the besieged enclave, where almost 1.3 million of the small territory’s two million inhabitants are refugees, demanding their right to return to their pre-1948 homes.
The six-week protest is set to end on 15 May - the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe), in which more than 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced by Israeli forces in 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
Israeli forces violently repressed last week's protest, which occurred on Land Day, killing 19 demonstrators and injuring more than 1,400 with live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets, and tear gas.
Demonstrators were anticipating similar levels of military repression this week, a day after Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that "open-fire rules for the Gaza border will remain unchanged".
Palestinians have nicknamed this Friday's protest "Jum'at al-Kawshook", literally meaning "Tyres Friday", as demonstrators planned on using burning tyres and mirrors to distract Israeli snipers and infantry brigade troops from targeting the crowds with live ammunition.
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Photo: Hussein Mohammed Madi, 15, a day before he was killed by Israeli forces (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)
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The Gaza ministry of health has announced that a Palestinian was killed in the southern Gaza Strip east of Khan Younis, identifying him as 38-year-old Osama Khamis Qudeih.
Qudeih, who was initially misidentified, is the first Palestinian to be killed in today's protests. The ministry said he died after being shot in the neck.
Palestinians along the Gaza border are carrying out a range of different activities, from karate classes for children, horse and camel racing and reading "human chains."
The activities have drawn in men, women, elderly and children, and photos from east of Khan Younis show Palestinians who were injured last Friday coming back to protest.
Others have made home-made masks from plastic bottles and onions to protect them from the tear gas fired by Israeli troops.
Most activities are to the areat east of Khan Younis, where the biggest crowds are, with others to east of Gaza City, in the Rafah and Al-Breej neighbourhoods.
