Palestinian mourners across the Gaza Strip have held funerals for seven protesters killed a day earlier.

Palestinian mourners across the Gaza Strip have held funerals for seven protesters killed a day earlier.


Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Gaza's ruling Hamas group, attended a funeral Saturday, pledging t

o keep up the near-weekly protests along the security fence with Israel until a decade-long Israeli-Egyptian blockade is lifted.

Israeli troops killed six Palestinians as thousands thronged the border area in a Hamas-staged demonstration. A Palestinian succumbed to his wounds later, Gaza health officials said.

Four of the seven were killed in a single incident when they breached the Israeli side of the fence and approached an army post, the Israeli military said. Two other Palestinians were killed in other protest locations.

Israeli fire has killed 155 Palestinians during the protests since they began in March. An Israeli soldier was killed over the same period.

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9:35 a.m.

Palestinians in the northern West Bank say a woman has been killed after being struck in the head by a stone thrown by Israeli settlers.

A relative says Aisha Rabi, 48, was traveling with her husband and two daughters to their home in Bidya early Saturday when their vehicle was pelted with stones.

Her cousin, Isam Rabi, says she was struck in the head and rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. He says her husband saw a small group of settlers nearby.

Israeli police say they are investigating.

The area is near several ultranationalist Jewish settlements.

Last Sunday, a Palestinian assailant killed two Israelis in a nearby settlement. And on Thursday, a Palestinian man stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier, raising the possibility of a revenge attack.

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8:20 a.m.

Palestinian health officials say Israeli forces have shot dead six Palestinians, four of them in a single incident, in one of the deadliest days in months of mass protests along the security fence separating Gaza and Israel.

Gaza's Health Ministry said Friday that four were killed in one location, where the Israeli military said it opened fire on a crowed of Palestinians who breached the fence and approached an army post. No Israeli troops were harmed, the army added.

Two other Palestinians were killed in other protest locations, the ministry said, adding that at least 140 Palestinians were wounded by live bullets.

Since March, Hamas has orchestrated near-weekly protests along the fence.

The Israeli military said 14,000 Palestinians thronged the border fence areas Friday.