Israeli raids kill 1 Palestinian

GAZA, Palestine

One young Palestinian man on Saturday was martyred in Israeli air raids on the blockaded Gaza Strip and another seven were wounded, according to the Health Ministry.

Imad Mohammed Nesir, 22, was killed in an attack on northern Gaza, the ministry said, adding that seven others were wounded in attacks carried out on Saturday.

For its part, the Israeli army said that around 150 rockets had been launched from Gaza to Israel, and dozens of them were intercepted by its Iron Dome Aerial Defense System.

It added that the air raids were in response to attacks from Gaza early Saturday.

The Palestinian rocket attack left at least 13 Israeli settlers wounded, Israel’s Magen David Adom said in a statement.

Among the injured settlers, one woman was seriously wounded in the Kiryat Gat settlement by a “rocket explosion,” said the statement.

Meanwhile, the Israeli media reported that air-raid sirens were heard in areas near the Gaza Strip, and people are being urged to stay in shelters.

As tension escalated in the region, the Israeli army also announced that its artillery shelled two targets in the northern Gaza Strip, where rockets are thought to be launched from.

It added that some positions of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades -- the armed wing of the Hamas movement, which is running the Gaza Strip -- were targeted by Israeli tanks.

The Israeli government also closed the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing and Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing with the Gaza Strip over the current escalation, Israeli media reported.

An Israeli ban also was imposed on Palestinian fishermen setting off from Gaza’s shore "until further notice," Nizar Ayyash, the head of Gaza's fishermen’s union, told Anadolu Agency Saturday.

The Israeli army also announced earlier that it had closed several roads Saturday in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip and near the border fence between Gaza and Israel due to Friday's incidents. The closed areas included Zikim beach near the strip’s northern border.

It also said two of its soldiers were injured along the Gaza border and in response it destroyed a target belonging to the brigades. During the attack, two Palestinians were martyred, while two others were wounded.

Four Palestinians, including a teenager, were also martyred Friday in the blockaded Gaza Strip during a rally against Israel’s decades-long occupation and an Israeli airstrike.

Protesters in Gaza demand the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes 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 2 million inhabitants of many basic commodities.

Palestinians have been protesting against Israel since March 2018 as part of the "Great March of Return," during which Israeli troops have opened fire on civilian crowds with live bullets.

Over 200 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed by Israeli gunfire since the beginning of the demonstrations.