Gazan minor dies of wounds from Israeli fire

A Palestinian minor on Saturday succumbed to wounds he sustained from Israeli army fire during protests in the Gaza Strip a day earlier, according to the Health Ministry.

Moaz al-Suri, 15, was shot in his abdomen during an anti-occupation rally east of Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip on Friday.

"He died of his wounds on Saturday," the ministry said in a statement.

A Palestinian youth had been martyred and scores injured during Friday protests, according to the ministry.

Saturday's fatality brings to 157 the number of Palestinians martyred and more than 17,000 injured since the protests began late March.

Protesters demand the "right of return" to their homes and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel's 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave's economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.