Two Slain Teens Laid to Rest in Rafah

Rafah, MINA — Bilal Mustafa Khafaja, 17, who was shot dead by Israeli forces at Gaza border on Friday, and Ahmad Abu Tyour, 16, who succumbed to wounds sustained by Israeli forces at Gaza border, were laid to rest in Rafah, in southern Gaza Strip, following two funeral processions attended by thousands of angry mourners on Saturday, WAFA reported.

Thousands of mourners attended the funeral processions in Rafah. They waved flags of Palestine and chanted slogans calling for the Israeli perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Khafaja was shot in the chest and killed by Israeli snipers while she was partaking in the Great March of Return protests near the border fence east of Rafah, in southern Gaza Strip, on Friday evening.

Abu Tyour was also shot and critically injured by Israeli snipers near the border but was announced dead of his wounds on Saturday morning.

According to witnesses, she was 100 meters away from the Gaza-Israel border fence providing first aid to the wounded protesters when all of a sudden she was targeted by an Israeli sniper’s gunfire despite wearing a clearly visible white coat. Najjar was seriously hit by a bullet in her back that penetrated her heart, before she died of her wounds a couple of minutes later.

More than 174 Palestinians have been killed and 17,500 others injured since the outbreak of the Gaza border protests on March 30. The protests call for ending the 12-year-long Israeli blockade of Gaza and for the right of return of the refugees.

Most of the casualties occurred on May 14 when Israeli forces attacked Palestinian protesters marking the 70th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of historical Palestine and the ensuing ethnic cleansing of half a million Palestinian refugees. T/RS5/RS1)

.Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)