Four Palestinian teenagers were wounded by rubber-coated steel bullets fired by Israeli troops on stone-throwing demonstrators in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, witnesses said.
They were among some 200 students staging a demonstration near an Israeli army base to mark the 18th anniversary of the massacre of 1,500 Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
One Israeli soldier was also wounded by a stone thrown by a Palestinian protestor and taken to the base for treatment, witnesses said.
The four injured Palestinians, including one who was hit in the face near his eye, were being treated in hospital in Gaza and are expected to be released later Sunday, a hospital official said.
The violence erupted near the army base on the road leading to the Nezarim Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian police intervened to break up the protests and calm was restored around midday, witnesses said.
The demonstrators, mostly aged between 14 and 16, came from the al-Brayj and al-Nusayrat refugee camps in central Gaza.
In response, the Israeli army said it closed the Karni checkpoint between the Gaza Strip and Israel, the main access for goods into the territory -- GAZA CITY (AFP)
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