Teen killed, four wounded as Israeli forces fire on Gaza protesters

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager near the border with the Gaza Strip on Friday, the health ministry in the besieged enclave said.

Fahd al-Astal, 16, died after being shot in the stomach east of Khan Yunis in the south of the Palestinian enclave, and four other Palestinians were wounded, the ministry said.

Weekly border protests along the Israeli frontier were officially cancelled on Friday.

But residents said a small number of mostly young Palestinians still approached the border fence. Israel has imposed a no-go area there and has previously used deadly force against Palestinians approaching the border.

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At least 348 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since weekly protests began in March 2018, more than half of them during demonstrations.

Others have been killed in air strikes or by tank fire.

The protests are demanding that Israel ease its blockade of the Strip and that Palestinians be allowed to return to their ancestral homes, from which Israel expelled their families in 1948.

Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas took control of the enclave in 2007. Since then, Israel has attacked the territory numerous times. Hamas and Israel have fought three major wars, in 2008, 2012, and 2014.

Earlier on Friday, a member of Islamic Jihad died of his wounds he sustained during a two-day flare up in fighting which took place earlier this month.