Gaza: Palestinian boy shot by Israeli army dies from wounds

Omar Hasan Abu al-Nil came from the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City

A 12-year-old Palestinian boy shot last weekend by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration near the fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel has died from his wounds, the besieged enclave's health ministry said on Saturday.

Omar Hasan Abu al-Nil, from the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, was shot with a live bullet during a rally marking the 52nd anniversary of an arson attack on al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

Around 40 people were wounded by Israeli forces on 21 August, including 32-year-old Osama Khaled Ideij, who died on Wednesday. 

An Israeli police officer was also shot and remains in a critical condition.

More protests are planned for Saturday evening, according to Palestinian sources.

Israel has maintained a crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007, which critics say amounts to collective punishment of the impoverished enclave's two million residents.

Egypt also upholds the siege, restricting movement in and out of Gaza on its border.

In 2018, residents of Gaza began a protest movement demanding an end to the blockade and the right for Palestinian refugees to return to lands they fled or were expelled from when Israel was founded.

The weekly demonstrations were eventually suspended after Israeli forces killed some 350 Palestinians in Gaza over more than a year.