GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian nurse on Friday as she tried to help a wounded protester at the Gaza border, according to health officials and a witness, while Israel said militants had attacked its troops with gunfire and a grenade.
Razan Al-Najar鈥檚 death brought to 119 the number of Palestinians killed in weekly demonstrations launched on March 30 in the Gaza Strip, an enclave controlled by the Islamist group Hamas and long subject to grinding Israeli and Egyptian embargoes.
Najar, a 21-year-old volunteer medic, was shot as she ran toward the fortified border fence, east of the south Gaza city of Khan Younis, in a bid to reach a casualty, a witness said.
Wearing a white uniform, 鈥渟he raised her hands high in a clear way, but Israeli soldiers fired and she was hit in the chest,鈥� the witness, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.
An Israeli military spokeswoman had no immediate comment on Najar鈥檚 killing. Israeli officers have previously said that army snipers target only people posing a threat, but that the bullets can sometimes run through them or ricochet, hitting bystanders.
Gazan medical officials said at least 100 Palestinians were wounded by army gunfire during Friday鈥檚 mass demonstrations.
In a separate statement, the Israeli military said its troops had acted to disperse 鈥渢housands of rioters鈥� at five locations.
It said that 鈥渁n IDF (Israel Defense Forces) vehicle was fired upon and a suspect was identified crossing the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip and planting a grenade which exploded as he returned to the Strip.鈥�
There have been no Israeli casualties during the border confrontations, but Israel has reported extensive damage to farmland from firebomb-bearing kites flown over from Gaza.
The surge in violence at the border crescendoed this week to the most intensive shelling exchanges between Israel and Hamas and another Palestinian armed faction since a 2014. But the violence, which caused no fatalities, was reined in with Egyptian cease-fire mediation.
In the protests, billed as the 鈥淕reat March of Return,鈥� Palestinians have been calling for the right to return to lands lost to Israel during the 1948 war of its creation. Israel calls them a ploy to breach its border and deflect scrutiny from Hamas鈥� governance problems.
Israel鈥檚 lethal response has drawn international censure.
Friday鈥檚 turnout of protesters was less than in previous weeks, but is expected to grow next week as Palestinians mark the anniversary of Israel鈥檚 capture of the Gaza Strip and West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war.
Israel quit Gaza in 2005, but has elsewhere deepened settlements on occupied land. The demonstrations come at a time of growing frustration over the prospects for an independent Palestinian state or even a revival of peace talks, stalled since 2014.
At her house in Khan Younis, Najar鈥檚 mother collapsed in grief as she was handed her daughter鈥檚 blood-stained uniform.
A statement from Gaza鈥檚 Health Ministry mourned Najar as a 鈥渕artyr.鈥� Interviewed by Reuters interview in April, she said she would see the border protests through until their end.
鈥淚 am returning and not retreating,鈥� Najar鈥檚 last Facebook post said. 鈥淗it me with your bullets. I am not afraid.鈥�