GAZA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of Palestinian youths clashed on Friday afternoon with Israeli army soldiers stationed at the borderline area between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, leaving two lightly injured, medics said.
Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the Gaza-run health ministry told reporters in Gaza that two young men were shot and wounded by live ammunition of the Israeli soldiers' gunfire near the borders.
On Friday afternoon, dozens of young men marched towards the borderline area, burned dozens of tires near Nahal Ozz and Karni checkpoints close to the borders between eastern Gaza city and Israel.
Similar clashed broke out east of Jabalia town in northern Gaza Strip and east of al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, according to witnesses and paramedics.
They said that dozens of Israeli soldiers fired smoke bombs and tear gas canisters to disperse the demonstrators, adding that the demonstrators threw stones at the soldiers, who opened fire and wounded two of them.
On Thursday, the armed wings of seven Palestinian factions, including Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, called for a day of confrontation with Israel in support of Palestinian prisoners who have been going on a hunger strike in Israeli jails for 33 days.
On Wednesday, Fatehi Hammad, Hamas politburo member and former minister of interior in Gaza said: "We call on our people to head to the borders with Israel on Friday and consider the day a day of rage to reject the ongoing blockade."
He made the call in a rally held in northern Gaza to mark 69 years for the Nakba Day.
In the 1948 "Nakba," or "catastrophe" in Arabic, mourned by Palestinians each May 15, more than 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes in the war surrounding Israel's declaration of independence.
