By Safiye Karaback

GAZA CITY

The number of Palestinians martyred by Israeli gunfire since the beginning of protests on March 30 has climbed to 135, according to Palestine’s Health Ministry.

Ashraf al-Qidra, a ministry spokesman, told Anadolu Agency that more than 15,000 people have been injured during the protests in Gaza.

Around 370 injured people are in critical condition, Al-Qidra said.

“2,536 of those injured are children and 1,160 are women,” he said, adding that 231 medical staff and 175 journalists were among injured.

The Palestinians had begun staging mass rallies along the Gaza-Israel security fence on March 30. They 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.

The protesters also demand an end to Israel’s decade-long blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its 2 million inhabitants of many basic commodities.