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Photo:
Scene. Published by Maan News
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GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Four Palestinians were killed and others injured after Israeli artillery shelling targeted an auto rickshaw in the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday afternoon.

Locals told Ma’an that Israeli artillery stationed along the border with Gaza fired missiles at the auto rickshaw, killing four and injuring other passers-by.

The four slain Palestinians were identified as Amjad Qartous, 18, Ayed Hamaydeh, 23, Hesham Kallab, 18, and Hesham Abdul-Al, 22. All four victims are from the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.

Israeli news website Haaretz reported that the Israeli army is “investigating the possibility that the shooting incident was a work accident.”

The deadly incident brought the death toll in Gaza to 36, since the “Great March of Return” protests began on March 30.

On Friday evening, a Palestinian man succumbed to wounds he sustained during protests earlier in the day.

The six-week Great March of Return is set to end on May 15th, the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when the state of Israel was created, leaving some 750,000 Palestinians and millions of their descendants as refugees.

Despite widespread outcry from international rights groups who have condemned Israel’s excessive use of forces against the civilian protesters, Israeli has maintained its open-fire rules for the Gaza border.