GAZA, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- A senior Islamic Hamas movement official said Friday that the weekly protests and rallies, better known as the "Great March of Return", will go on until Israel ends its 12-year blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Khalil al-Hayya, deputy Hamas chief in the coastal enclave, told reporters as he joined the weekly protests in eastern Gaza city, close to the border with Israel, that the Palestinians will carry on with the marches and resisting the Israeli occupation.

On Friday afternoon, thousands of Palestinians, including many Hamas supporters, rallied near the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel. They waved Palestinian flags, chanted anti-Israel slogans and clashed with the Israeli soldiers.

Israeli soldiers stationed on the border fired tear gas and live ammunition at the Palestinian protesters, after the protesters walked close to the fence of the border, according to eyewitnesses and Israeli media reports.

Ashraf al-Qedra, Health Ministry spokesman in Gaza, told reporters that a 16-year-old Palestinian teenager, Mohamed Jahjouh, was shot dead in his neck and 40 others were injured by live ammunition.

He said that four paramedics and two local photographers were among the injured, adding that the Israeli aggressive policy of using arms against Palestinian peaceful protesters has been going on since the start of the protests.

He said that since the beginning of the marches on March 30, the Israeli army has shot and killed 240 Palestinians and wounded more than 25,000 others. Around 40 percent of them were shot by live gunshots fired by the Israeli soldiers.

"The crowds of people reiterate that our people won't be broken or influenced by the Israeli occupation's policy of aggression and killing," said al-Hayya, adding "our people are united in both Gaza and the West Bank."

Al-Hayya slammed the ongoing security coordination between the Palestinian Authority security body and the Israeli Interior Intelligence Service, adding "this coordination weakens our resistance."

"The Palestinian and Arab coexistence with the occupation (Israel) is a stab in the back of the pure Palestinian resistance," he said.

Meanwhile, the highest Palestinian commission of the "Great March of Return" announced in an official statement that the protests will go on until it achieves its goal of ending the Israeli blockade.

Israel has been imposing a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip right after Hamas movement violently seized control of the coastal enclave in 2007.

The marches have become less violent in recent weeks and demonstrators stopped burning tires and releasing arson balloons into Israel after Israel slightly improved the deteriorating humanitarian situation thanks to the UN, Egypt and Qatar.

However, the commission warned Israel in its statement that if Israel doesn't end its blockade, the protesters will get back to burning tires, releasing arson balloons and vandalizing the border fences. Enditem

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