GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza’s Health Ministry says 10 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire along the territory’s coast.
Thousands of Palestinians gathered on the beach as boats sailed nearby.
A Palestinian cameraman in a clearly-marked “Press” vest was shot in the leg.
Protesters set fire to tires on rafts.
Israel’s military said forces shot next to the vessels and at Palestinians on land who threw an explosive device and rolled burning tires at soldiers.
Monday’s demonstration was, in part, to protest the blockade set by Israel and Egypt in 2007 after Hamas, a militant Islamic group, took over. Since March, 128 protesters have been killed by Israeli fire and one Israeli soldier was killed by a Gaza sniper.
In a 2017 report, a United Nations report officially declared Gaza “unlivable”. UN Coordinator for Palestinian Aid Robert Piper told Reuters that “every indicator, from energy to water to healthcare to employment to poverty to food insecurity, every indicator is declining.”
This year, data from the Palestinian Water Authority estimates that 90% of Gaza’s drinking water is now undrinkable due to sewage pollution or high salinity levels, while unemployment is at 43% according to the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement.
40% of Gazan’s children suffer from anemia and malnutrition, with “with adverse consequences on child growth, development, and survival”, according to a BMC Public Health study.
