国际英语新闻:41 Palestinians injured in weekly Friday anti-Israel rally in eastern Gaza: medics

GAZA, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 41 Palestinians were injured on Friday during clashes between thousands of Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers stationed on the border between the eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, medics said.

Among the 41 Palestinians injured, 13 were shot by live gunshots and eight by rubber-coated metal bullets, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a press statement.

The clashes broke out in the afternoon when around 12,000 Palestinian demonstrators joined the 36th Friday Great March of Return rally in eastern Gaza, which has been organized since March 30.

Right after Friday prayers, thousands of Palestinian protesters marched toward the border fence between the eastern Gaza Strip and Israel.

The rally leaders warned that if Israel does not ease the blockade that it has been imposing on the Gaza Strip since 2007, the protests would re-use the previous anti-Israel means and tools.

Eyewitnesses said demonstrators set fire to tires of used cars, while Israeli border soldiers fired intensive tear gas, rubber bullets and live gunshots at the demonstrators.

Abdulatif al-Qanoua, spokesman of Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip, said the anti-Israel rally will go on until it achieves its goals of lifting the Israeli seige completely.

Israel imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas violently seized control of the coastal enclave and routed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas security forces during the summer of 2007.

"We call on the world to express solidarity with our people on the day of international solidarity with the Palestinian people," Qanoua said.

"Ending the unfair siege, imposed on Gaza, is the responsibility of Arabs and Muslims," he added.