World Bulletin / News Desk

A Palestinian youth was wounded late Monday by Israeli gunfire in the northern Gaza Strip.

Israeli troops opened fire on the youth as he approached a fence between the strip and Israel, eyewitnesses said.

Israel occasionally announces the arrest of Palestinians found trying to cross from the Gaza Strip into Israel in search of work.

Palestinian rights groups say that over 25 Palestinians have been arrested since October of 2014 for crossing from Gaza into Israel.

Unemployment and poverty rates in the embattled Gaza Strip have both now surpassed the 50-percent mark, according to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics.

Gaza's labor union estimates that nearly 30,000 Gazans lost their jobs as a direct result of Israel's deadly military offensive last summer, along with nearly 170,000 others who remain unemployed due to Israel's years-long blockade of the coastal enclave.

In July and August of 2014, more than 2,160 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were killed – and some 11,000 injured – during a 51-day military onslaught by Israel.

The offensive finally ended on Aug. 26 with a cease-fire signed in Cairo between Israel and Palestinian resistance factions.