Two Palestinians wounded in clashes with Israel were pronounced dead Monday, a Gaza official said, bringing the toll from Israeli fire during protests near the border since March 30 to 40.
A spokesman for the Hamas-controled territory's health ministry named the latest fatalities as Tahrir Wahada, 18, and Abdullah Shamali, 20.
Wahada was shot in the head in a clash east of Khan Yunis on April 6, and Shamali, the son of a senior Hamas commander killed in clashes with extremists in 2009, died of "bullet wounds to his belly" sustained on Friday, according to the spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra.
Most of the 40 Palestinians killed by Israel since the start of "March of Return" protests on March 30 were shot by snipers on the border, while a few others were killed by Israeli artillery or air strikes.
The demonstrations are set to climax with a massive march to the border on May 15, when Palestinians mark the "nakba," or catastrophe, of their uprooting during the war over Israel's creation in 1948.
The Israeli army says its fores only open fire in self-defense or to stop protesters attempting to breach the barrier separating the territory from Israel.
More than 440 demonstrators suffered bullet wounds or gas inhalation on Friday, rescuers said.
Israel has drawn harsh criticism from rights groups along with calls for investigations by the United Nations or the European Union.
