Gaza Health Ministry warns of Israel's 'lethal' attacks

Israel's way of wounding demonstrators in Gaza City is a reflection of their intention to commit a new massacre, the Palestinian Health Ministry said early Saturday.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, the ministry’s spokesman, Ashraf al-Qidra, said Israel was carrying out “lethal” attacks on Palestinian protestors when looking at the injuries they received.

Emphasizing that the injuries were deadly and complicated, Qidra added that Israeli occupying forces had the intention to commit a new massacre.

He also stressed that there was no international monitoring of the situation and called for determined and effective moves in order to stop the continuous violations against the Palestinian people.

Meanwhile, Qatar's Foreign Ministry also condemned the attacks targeting peaceful protests.

“Occupying Israeli forces’ dangerous military escalation is a clear violation of international agreements and laws,” it said in a written statement.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, seven Palestinian protesters were martyred Friday by Israeli army gunfire near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, while another 154 Palestinians were injured.

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 12-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.

According to the Health Ministry, more than 200 Palestinians have been martyred and thousands more injured since the rallies began on March 30.