Palestinians mourn at funeral of child killed by Israeli fire

GAZA CITY — Thousands of Palestinians on Saturday attended the funeral of the 11-year-old son of a Hamas commander killed by Israeli fire in the southern Gaza Strip.

Yasser Abu Al Naja, whose father is a member of Hamas’ military wing, was shot in the head on Friday by Israeli occupation forces on the Gaza border fence near the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Agence France-Presse. 

Senior members of Hamas, which rules the blockaded Gaza Strip, and commanders of its Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades attended the funeral.

“Yasser’s martyrdom is clear proof of the crimes committed by the [Israeli] occupation against the Palestinian people,” said senior Hamas official Khalil Al Hayya during the ceremony, AFP reported.

“The occupiers killed the child in cold blood,” said Hayya, a member of the Palestinian group’s political bureau.

The boy was one of two Palestinians killed on Friday by Israeli forces in southern Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry in the coastal enclave.

His exact age was initially unclear but his family said on Saturday that Yasser was born on September 19, 2006.

The second fatality was identified as Mohammed Al Hamayda, 24, who was shot in the stomach by Israeli forces in a separate incident east of Rafah in Gaza’s south. A separate funeral was held for him there.

An Israeli statement said occupation forces responded to demonstrators with “riot dispersal means” and “resorted to live fire” when those failed.

It said the death of the boy would be examined.

Since protests broke out along the Gaza border on March 30, at least 137 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces’ fire.

No Israelis have been killed.

Israeli forces wounded 415 others with live fire and tear gas during protests along the Gaza border on Friday, Gaza health officials said, according to Reuters. 

Palestinians say the protests are a popular outpouring of rage against Israel by refugees demanding the right to return to homes their families fled or were driven from on Israel’s founding 70 years ago.

Tens of thousands took part when the protests were launched at several locations along the Gaza border but the number has dropped significantly in the past few weeks and only a few thousand have participated more recently.

Israel’s deadly tactics have drawn international condemnation.