GAZA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- At least 40 Palestinians were injured, including 22 with live ammunition, on Friday during clashes with Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the Health Ministry in Gaza, told Xinhua that at least 40 Palestinian demonstrators were injured, including 22 shot by Israeli soldiers' gunfire, one of whom was a child that was seriously injured in the abdomen.

The clashes broke out when hundreds of Gaza demonstrators joined the weekly protests and rallies, better known as the Great March of Return, in eastern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel.

Earlier on Friday, the Highest Commission of the Marches called on the Gaza Strip populations to join the 66th week of marches which started in March last year to reject all the plans that aim at liquidating the Palestinian cause.

The March of Return calls on Israel to end a tight blockade that had been imposed on the Gaza Strip since Hamas movement violently seized control of the coastal enclave in 2007.

Meanwhile, a senior Egyptian security intelligence delegation arrived in the Gaza Strip earlier on Friday from the West Bank to hold talks with Hamas leaders on empowering a calm understanding that had been reached between Hamas and Israel and was brokered by Egypt.

It is the first visit of the delegation in two months.

Palestinian sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that the Egyptian security delegation came to defuse tension between Israel and Hamas after a Hamas militant was killed in northern Gaza Strip on Thursday. Enditem

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