国际英语新闻:Clashes with Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza wound 20 Palestinians: medics

GAZA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 Palestinians were shot and wounded on Tuesday evening during clashes between hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, Health Ministry spokesman in Gaza, told reporters that 20 Palestinians were shot and wounded by Israeli gunfire on the border between northern Gaza Strip and Israel.

He added that dozens suffered suffocation after inhaling tear gas fired by the soldiers at the crowds of demonstrators. Eyewitnesses said that demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and threw stones at the soldiers.

On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators gathered in northern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel, as part of an anti-Israel protest which calls for ending the ongoing Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since mid-2007.

The Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave have been holding weekly rallies and protests as part of the anti-Israel "Great March of Return" which started in March last year.

Gaza Health Ministry's officials said that since the outbreak of the marches of return near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, the Israeli army killed more than 250 demonstrators and wounded around 26,000 others.

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