1st LD Writethru: Palestinian death toll climbs to 160 since early October: medics

The death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces and the Israeli gunfire in the Palestinian territories since early October climbed to 160, medical sources said Friday.

The Palestinian health ministry said in an official statement that 160 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,000 injured by the Israeli security forces and the Israeli army in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem since early October.

The statement said that the death toll climbed to 160 after a 26-year-old young man was killed in clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian demonstrators close to the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel.

Ashraf al-Qedra, the health ministry spokesman in Gaza, told reporters that Mohamed Qitta from the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis was killed by Israeli soldiers' gunfire near al-Bureij refugee camp east of central Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Friday, a Palestinian young man was killed and 10 were injured in clashes that broke between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian protesters near the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel.

Eyewitnesses said that on Friday afternoon, dozens of Palestinian young men headed to the borderline area between the coastal enclave and Israel to protest against Israel in solidarity with the West Bank.

They said the young men threw stones on the soldiers stationed at the borders area and chanted slogans in solidarity with the West Bank and against the Israeli blockade that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for eight years.

Eyewitnesses said the soldiers fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to disperse the young men.

In early October, a wave of violent tension broke out between Israel and the Palestinians, where 160 Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli army and security forces gunfire in West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza.

In the meantime, more than 25 Israelis were killed in a series of stabbing, shooting and cars run-over attacks carried out by Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The wave of tension between the two sides has been flaring as the peace process in the Middle East has been stalled since 2014.

Earlier on Friday, al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Hamas movement, said in a text message sent to reporters that one of its militants was killed in an electric shock into a tunnel in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

The group didn't give any more details on how its militant died, but said Bassem el-Akhras, 22, died in a tunnel in Rafah town during training and preparation.

Hamas armed wing had announced that nine of its militants were killed into tunnels while they were on a mission of training and preparing for an upcoming confrontations with Israel.

In the summer of 2014, Israel waged a war on the Gaza Strip that lasted for 50 days to rein on the Islamic movement which fired thousands of homemade rockets and projectiles into Israel. Endit