Gaza demonstrators start gathering for Great Return March anniversary

Dozens of volunteers in fluorescent vests prepared to restrain demonstrators from getting too close to the border fence. Ambulances lined up in front of clinics and police supervised encampments erected far from the fence.

Some protesters started approaching the barrier, prompting Israeli forces to respond with tear gas.

Fouad Aishan, 40, came with his five children to the frontier. He said he plans to show his children the Israeli soldiers and return to safety before the march started.

"I come here driven by personal national motivation," he said. "It has nothing to do with what the politicians do."

Early on Saturday, protester Mohammed Saad, 20, died after being hit by shrapnel from Israeli fire, the Gaza health ministry said.

Witnesses said he had been taking part in an overnight demonstration.

The demonstrators are calling for Palestinians to be allowed to return to land their families fled in the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of Israel.

Israel says any such mass return would spell the end of a Jewish state.

Demonstrations are expected to peak on Saturday afternoon, with tens of thousands potentially taking part.

Two million Palestinians live in impoverished Gaza, crammed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean.

Analysts highlight the desperate living conditions and lack of freedom of movement as driving forces behind the weekly protests.

Israel has maintained a crippling blockade of the enclave for more than a decade, and Egypt often closes Gaza's only other gateway to the outside world.

The UN says more than 90 percent of the water is unsafe for drinking and residents receive less than 12 hours of mains electricity a day.