Palestinian youth succumbs to wounds after Israeli gunfire

A Palestinian youth has been the latest victim of Israel's bloody assault on the besieged enclave.

The 21-year-old was shot by Israeli forces on the Gaza border on 8 June and succumbed to his wounds on Thursday said the health ministry.

Ahmed al-Assi was shot east of Khan Younis in a wound to his head, and has been in a critical condition since.

Israeli security forces have killed over 130 Palestinians since protests began 30 March.

Dubbed the "Great Return March", the demonstrations have have centred on a demand for the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, after they were expelled following the 1948 creation of Israel.  

The UN General Assembly yesterday adopted by a strong majority of 120 countries an Arab-backed resolution condemning Israel for killing more than a hundred Palestinian in Gaza and rejected a US bid to put the blame on Hamas.

The resolution deplored Israel's use of "excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force" against Palestinian civilians and called for protection measures for people living in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The US amendment condemning Hamas received 62 votes in favour, with 58 against and 42 abstentions. The US sought to challenge the ruling requiring a two-thirds majority but that was defeated in a separate vote.

The General Assembly last held a similarly contentious vote on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in December, when it rejected President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the US embassy there.

The demonstrations and violence peaked on 14 May when at least 61 Palestinians were killed when Gazans protested the US transfer of its embassy in Israel, to the disputed city of Jerusalem on the same day.

Palestinians in the West Bank protested last night in solidarity with Gaza against the punitive measures as security forces fired stun grenades and tear gas to disperse a rare anti-government protest which happened in defiance of a temporary ban announced earlier in the day.

The protesters were demanding that 83-year-old Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas drop measures against Gaza which critics say amount to collective punishment of the two million residents there.