183 Gaza Protesters Martyred Since March 30: Ministry

The Israeli army has martyred at least 183 Palestinian demonstrators since the "Great Return March" began along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone on March 30, Gaza's Health Ministry said Friday.



In a statement, the ministry said that 32 children, along with two women, had been among the victims.



According to the ministry, roughly 20,160 Palestinians were injured over the same period: 540 by rubber bullets; 5,039 by heavy ammunition; 6,100 by bullet and artillery shrapnel; and the rest by teargas.



Among those wounded, 443 sustained serious injuries, according to the ministry.



Demonstrators, who continue to converge on the buffer zone on an almost daily basis, demand the "right of 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 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave's economy and deprived its more than two million inhabitants of many basic commodities. -