Israeli forces shoot dead Palestinian protester on Gaza border: ministry

A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli soldiers during a seventh week of protests on the Gaza border on Friday, the health ministry in the enclave said.

The 40-year-old died after being shot in the chest near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, while 18 people received bullet wounds in the protests on Friday, the ministry said.

The death takes to 53 the number of Palestinians killed since protests began on March 30 calling for Palestinians to be able to return to the homes they fled in 1948, which are now inside Israel.

Thousands of Palestinians gathered at five different points along the border, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

Israeli forces responded with tear gas and live ammunition, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Israel's army said around 5,000 Palestinians took part in Friday's protest.

The protests are due to culminate on Monday or Tuesday next week, to coincide with the controversial relocation by the United States of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. 

The killing came after Save the Children slammed Israel after a report showed its forces shot hundreds of Palestinian children in the besieged Gaza Strip during the Great Return March.

Children as young as eight who were attacked by Israeli forces are struggling to receive help as provisions for health care in the besieged enclave worsens.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has recorded 500 detailed injuries in children, at least 250 of which were hit with live bullets. The true number of children injured is expected to be higher, with the ministry reporting that so far 689 children have been injured, but the details of some attacks are not yet known.

Mass protests erupted on 30 March - dubbed "Great Return March" - which have centred on the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, after they were expelled following the 1948 creation of Israel.

The protests along the Gaza border quickly turned deadly after Israeli forces began responding with live ammunition. Thousands of protesters have been wounded by gunfire or needed treatment for tear gas inhalation in the weeks of protests.

No Israelis have been reported hurt.

Israel has defended its disproportionate use of violence against peaceful protesters involved in the the Great Return March demonstrations after facing a legal challenge from international rights groups, suggesting human rights laws do not apply to what it described as "acts of war”.

US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital infuriated Palestinians, who see the eastern part of the city as the capital of their future state.

Click here to view an updated list of the Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza since Friday March 30.