Palestinian dies of injury sustained during Gaza rally

A Palestinian has succumbed to injuries he sustained last Friday while taking part in ongoing anti-occupation rallies east of Gaza's Al-Bureij refugee camp, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

"Samir Gazi al-Nabahin, 47, has died of injuries suffered last Friday at the hands of Israeli occupation forces," ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said in a Tuesday statement.

According to al-Qidra, al-Nabahin was injured when he was struck in the face by a teargas canister fired by Israeli troops deployed along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone.

More than 250 Palestinians have been martyred by Israeli army gunfire -- and thousands more injured -- since Gazans began staging weekly protests along the buffer zone in March of last year.

Demonstrators demand the right of Palestinian refugees to 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 12-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.