14 Palestinian protesters wounded by Israeli gunfire: Gaza ministry

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories: At least 14 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire Friday during protests along the Gaza border, the enclave´s health ministry said, as a lull in deadly violence held after a truce deal last week.

Thousands of demonstrators turned out for the protests but largely kept their distance from the fortified frontier.

Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said 14 people were injured by Israeli army fire along the border, including "a child shot in the chest east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp" in the central Gaza Strip.

It marked the second straight Friday of lighter protests since an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire on November 13 ended the worst flare-up between Israel and Gaza´rulers Hamas since a 2014 war.

Efforts to reach a more lasting truce have angered Israeli right-wing rivals of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It brought the government to the brink of collapse when the defence minister resigned last week and took his party out of the ruling coalition.

Gaza border tensions have soared since the March 30 start of what the Palestinians call the "Great March of Return", a mass protest movement demanding the right for Palestinians to return to homes they fled or were expelled from during the war surrounding Israel´s creation.

Protesters have often moved right up to the border fence every Friday and occasionally breached it.

At least 235 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly by Israeli fire during border clashes but also by air strikes.