Israeli gunfire kills 1, wounds 69 Palestinians on Gaza border

Gaza's Health Ministry said one Palestinian was killed and 69 were wounded by Israeli army fire in mass protests on the Gaza-Israel border.
The ministry said Monday that nine of the wounded are in serious condition. It said the man who was killed was 21 years old and was shot near the southeastern town of Khan Younis. It said several dozen other protesters were overcome by tear gas.
Protests were expected to escalate during the day, the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding, as loudspeakers on Gaza mosques urged Palestinians to join the so-called "Great March of Return".

Thousands of Palestinians massed at five locations along the line, and nearly 70, including two local journalists, were wounded by Israeli gunfire, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

Palestinian witnesses said Israeli aircraft also dropped flammable material on Monday to burn tyres that protesters had stacked in preparation for them to be set on fire and rolled at the fence.

The Israelis also fired tear gas at people inside the tented encampments that have sprung up along the border, witnesses said.
The protests are scheduled to culminate on Tuesday, the day Palestinians mourn as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe" when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of them were driven out of their homes.