A four-year-old Palestinian boy has died after being injured by Israeli gunfire at a routine protest near the fence with Israel, Gaza’s health authorities said.
The Ministry of Health spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qidra, said that Ahmed Abu Abed died late on Tuesday.
“Ahmed Abu Abed, aged four years and eight months, died as a result of wounds he received last Friday east of Khan Younis,” al-Qudra said in a statement on Tuesday.
Ahmed’s father, Yasser Abu Abed, told Al Jazeera his son was injured by shrapnel when he was shot during regular Friday protests, dubbed the Great March of Return.
“My son saved my life,” the 36-year-old said.
Yasser is a father to four other children and has been unemployed for the past seven years. According to him, Ahmed, who was the youngest among his siblings, insisted on joining his father on December 10.
“I never used to take him with me,” Yasser, who regularly attends the Friday demonstrations, said. “We’re simply asking for basic rights.”
Israeli snipers began shooting at the Palestinians as soon as they arrived at the scene, in the most “random manner”, Yasser said.
“We were a few hundred metres away from the fence when the Israeli soldiers started firing at us. It felt more like a bomb, so loud and frightening,” he said.
While Yasser was shot in the arm, Ahmed suffered injuries from shrapnel in his stomach, neck and right eye, which affected his brain and central nervous system. He spent four days in intensive care before he succumbed to his wounds.
“It all happened so fast. From the moment we arrived until the moment we were shot at, only less than two minutes had passed,” he said.
“All we ever wanted was to see the blockade on Gaza come to an end”.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday it was reviewing the incident while accusing Hamas – the group governing the Gaza Strip – of using residents as cover for attacks, local media reported.
More than 195 Palestinians killed
The killing of four-year-old Ahmed follows months of demonstrations by Palestinians in Gaza along the fence with Israel, demanding their right to their ancestral lands from which they were expelled 70 years ago.
The Great March of Return rallies culminated on May 15 to mark what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or Catastrophe – a reference to the forced removal of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and villages to clear the way for Israel’s establishment in 1948.
So far, more than 195 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, one of the most densely populated places on earth.
Two Israeli soldiers have been killed since the protests began on March 30.
Ahmed’s mother, Ikram Abu Abed, said her son only ever lived in poor conditions under the Israeli siege.
“I was hoping one day to give my children a better life,” Ikram, who is expecting, told Al Jazeera.
“When we enrolled him in a nursery we had to take him out just two months later because we couldn’t bear the expenses any more,” she said.
“He was always a good boy. These past few weeks, in particular, he was cheerful and playful with everyone around him,” she said tearfully.
“It’s as if he was saying goodbye.”
In September, seven protesters were killed by Israeli gunfire, including two boys aged 12 and 14.
It was the bloodiest day since May 14 when more than 60 Palestinians were killed in Gaza during protests against the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
Israeli army arrests dozens in raids across West Bank
A Hamas official in the occupied West Bank says Israeli forces have arrested dozens of Hamas supporters, including legislators, in overnight raids.
Palestinian media also reported on Friday that scores of Palestinians, including two legislators, have been arrested across the West Bank in overnight raids.
The Israeli military said it arrested 40 people and alleged 37 of them are linked to Hamas.
The arrests come as four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in separate operations over the past 24 hours, with the Israeli army declaring the city of Ramallah a closed military zone, as it carried out searches around the roads entering and exiting the city.
The closure was announced following a shooting attack near the illegal Israeli settlement of Ofra east of Ramallah. Two Israeli soldiers were killed by an unknown Palestinian.
Speaking from Ramallah, Al Jazeera’s Natasha Ghoneim said that most of the entry points into the city are now open.
“There’s an increased presence of Israeli soldiers on the outskirts of Ramallah and at the checkpoints,” she said.
The Hamas official said that some 70 members have been arrested throughout the week. The official spoke on condition of anonymity fearing arrest by Israel.
The Hamas movement, which governs the besieged Gaza Strip, saluted the shooting on Thursday and in a statement said it proved “resistance” was still alive in the West Bank.
“The flame of resistance in the West Bank will remain alive until the Israeli occupation is defeated from the entirety of our land, and we regain our full rights,” Hamas said.
According to Ghoneim, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the “overall violence”.
“But he also said that the stalled peace talks, the ongoing Israeli raids in the West Bank, and the settlers’ call for his assassination have created an unstable atmosphere conducive to this violence,” Ghoneim said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday to legalise thousands of Jewish settlement homes in the West Bank that were built without Israeli permits.
Settlements are considered a violation of international law.
He also vowed to expedite the demolition of Palestinian attackers’ homes, increase detentions of Hamas members already in Israeli prisons and beef up Israeli forces in the area.
A total of 56 Palestinians across the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem were also arrested by the Israeli army early on Thursday morning.
In the aftermath of the overnight killings, dozens of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles with rocks on the busy Route 60 highway, south of Nablus.
The Israeli army frequently carries out wide-ranging arrest campaigns across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians.
According to Palestinian figures, some 6,000 Palestinians continue to languish in Israeli detention facilities, including scores of women and hundreds of minors.
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