15-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Israeli fire in Gaza

A Palestinian teenager succumbed to his wounds late Wednesday after having been shot and injured earlier by Israeli army troops while taking part in a rally along the Gaza Strip, according to the local Health Ministry.

In a statement, Gaza's Health Ministry said the 15-year-old boy Mumin Abu Iyada had been shot in the head by Israeli troops during a rally as part of the Great Return March at the eastern fence of Gaza's southern town of Rafah.

The 15-year-old succumbed to his head injuries, the statement added.

Since Wednesday afternoon, dozens of Palestinians gathered at the eastern border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel in order to join the ongoing popular Palestinian rallies known as The Great Return March.

Since the rallies began March 30, scores of Palestinians have been martyred -- and thousands injured -- by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.

Protesters demand the "right of return" to their homes and villages 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 2 million inhabitants of many basic commodities.