Israeli forces kill 131 Palestinians since March 30

The Health Ministry in Gaza Saturday unveiled a detailed official statistics on Palestinians killed and wounded by Israeli soldiers' gunfire since the outbreak of rallies and protests in Gaza Strip on March 30.

It said, in an official statement, that the Israeli army killed 131, and 14,811 were wounded, including 7,975 treated in hospitals and 54 had their either upper or lower limps amputated.

The report also accused the Israeli army of targeting the medical crews and ambulances in the field to rescue the lives of the wounded protesters.

Since March 30, the Palestinians have organized anti-Israel rallies in eastern Gaza Strip. They called the rallies "the Great March of Return" and demanded an end to a tight Israeli blockade imposed on the coastal enclave since 2007.

The Palestinians accused Israel of using excessive power and various kinds of illegal ammunitions to disperse the demonstrators who approached the fence of the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel.

However, Israel justified the use of force against demonstrators, saying that it wanted to prevent them from approaching the fence of the border and releasing flaming kites and balloons that burned agricultural fields in Israel.

Hamas leaders and the organizers of the marches insisted that they will carry on protests and rallies on every Friday until Israel ends its blockade.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian worker was killed on Saturday on a construction site in the city of Nazareth Illit, northern Israel.

The worker, from the West Bank city of Jenin, fell from a height of about 10 meters. Medics and paramedics who rushed to the scene declared him dead.

Despite many attempts, Israel is still unable to deal with large number of disasters on the construction sites.

Since the beginning of 2018, twenty construction workers have been killed in Israel during their work. The number increases 30 percent compared to the same period in 2017.

The Israeli Ministry of Labor has decided to increase the number of inspectors from 18 to 34, but even after the expansion it is not possible to closely monitor 13,000 construction sites in Israel.

The ministry also increased fines imposed on contractors for breaking the rules, and set up a special police unit to enforce such offenses. However, no results have yet gained.

Worker's Hotline, an organization fighting for worker's rights, said that the penalties are too light.

"The sentence of a contractor convicted of causing death by negligence is a fine of 6,000 new shekels much less than the real estate profit," the organization said.