A 23-year-old Palestinian on Wednesday succumbed to wounds he sustained on 14 May during the “Great March of Return” along the Gaza border fence.

Muhammad Ghassan Abu Farhana was being treated in a hospital in Gaza as a result of his injuries and was said to be in a critical condition. However, the severity of his injuries meant he was later transferred to the Saint Joseph’s Hospital in occupied East Jerusalem.

 

Large crowds awaited the arrival of Abu Farhana’s body at the Erez crossing (Beit Hanoun) in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday to prepare for his funeral.

 

Abu Farhana’s family members told Ma’an, that they decided to hold the funeral right after the body’s arrival at the Omar Bin Abed Al-Aziz mosque in Al-Farahhin area in eastern Khan Yunis City in the southern Gaza Strip.

 

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 135 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the “Great March of Return” protests set off in Gaza on 30 March. The deadliest daywas 14 May when some 61 Palestinians were killed. A further 13,000 were injured by Israeli occupation forces’ use of live rounds and tear gas to disperse the unarmed crowds.

 

Palestinians had been protesting against the 11-year long Israeli siege on the Strip, calling for their right to return to the properties from which their families were violently evicted to make way for the formation of the state of Israel, and protesting against the US’ decision to open its embassy in occupied Jerusalem.

 

Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights, released a statement condemning Israel’s use of military snipers against the civilian protesters.

 

“The Israeli military’s use of 100 snipers against unarmed Palestinian civilian protesters in the Gaza Strip is illegal,” the statement said, adding: “Live gunfire on unarmed civilians constitutes a brutal violation of the international legal obligation to distinguish between civilians and combatants.”

 

 

Source: Middle East Monitor