An Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza early on Thursday killed a Palestinian, while a second man died from wounds sustained in last week’s mass protest along the Gaza-Israel border, officials said.
The fatalities bring to 21 the number of people killed in confrontations in the volatile area over the past week.
A new round of protests along the border is expected tomorrow, raising the prospect of further bloodshed.
The protest march last week, largely organised by Gaza’s Hamas rulers, had been billed as the first of several weeks of intermittent protests against a stifling decade-old Israeli blockade.
Hamas leaders have portrayed the final protest, set for May 15, as the “Great March of Return” of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, implying they would try to enter Israeli territory. But they have stopped short of specifically threatening a mass breach of the border fence.