A demonstrator holds a Palestinian flag during a protest against Jewish settlements in the village of Ras Karkar, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank August 30, 2018.
A total of 19 Palestinians were martyred by Israeli troops during the month of August, a PLO-affiliated research center said Friday.
According to the Abdullah al-Hourani Center for Studies and Documentation, Israeli forces typically used teargas, rubber bullets and heavy ammunition to disperse Palestinian demonstrators near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone.
In a Friday statement, the center said that 17 Palestinians had been killed near the buffer zone this month, while two more had been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The German government has pledged to significantly increase its funding for the U.N. agency that supports Palestinian refugees after the United States cut its aid.German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the funding crisis for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) was fueling uncertainty."The loss of this organisation could unleash an uncontrollable chain reaction," he said.Germany had already provided 81 million euros ($94 million) in aid for UNWRA this year, he said, and was preparing to increase its contribution. He gave no figure.UNRWA warns of increased instability if US cuts funds"We are currently preparing to provide an additional amount of significant funds," Maas said in a letter to European Union foreign ministers that was seen by Reuters.Maas said it was clear that the added German funds would not cover a $217 million deficit left by the U.S. withdrawal, and urged the European Union and other states to work towards "a sustainable finance basis for the organisation".It is part of a broader push by Maas to take a more assertive stance in disagreements with the United States on a range of issues including trade, military spending and climate change.UN schools open in West Bank, Gaza despite US funding cutJordan said on Thursday it would lead a campaign to raise funds to help the U.N. agency survive, including an appeal to the Arab League.UNRWA has faced a cash crisis since the United States, long its biggest donor, earlier this year slashed funding, saying the agency needed to make unspecified reforms and calling on the Palestinians to renew peace talks with Israel.The agency was founded in 1949 after the first Arab-Israeli war, in the wake of the exodus of around 700,000 refugees who fled or were driven out of Israel on its founding as a state.UNRWA now looks after more than 5 million people in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. 
Germany to boost funds for Palestinians after US cut
At least 1,600 protesters were injured over the same period, the statement added, while roughly 400 others had been temporarily detained by Israeli authorities.
Since the demonstrations in Gaza began on Mar. 30, more than 170 Palestinians have been killed -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli army troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.
Protesters demand the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.
They also demand an end to Israel’s 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, is suspected of bribery and corruption, Israeli media reported. A senior police official told the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Thursday that the premier's wife is a suspect in a bribery probe involving the Bezeq telecommunication company, also known as Case 4000.The case involves accusations that Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch had instructed the Walla news website, which he owns, to provide Netanyahu with positive media coverage.Last June, Sara Netanyahu, was indicted for fraud for allegedly using public funds to pay for expensive restaurant meals.According to the indictment, Sara instructed staff at the Prime Minister's Jerusalem residence to order private meals worth some 350,000 Israeli shekels (roughly $96,600) in the period from 2010 to 2013.Netanyahu and his family have been the subject of criminal investigations over corruption and fraud allegations. In February, Israeli police recommended that Netanyahu be indicted for alleged corruption, saying there was now sufficient evidence to formally charge him in two separate graft cases. The first case involves Israeli Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, who was allegedly asked to purchase luxury items for Netanyahu and his wife. The second relates to an alleged deal -- again for favorable media coverage -- with Arnon Mozes, publisher of Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth. Israel will not acknowledge int'l agreements on SyriaIsrael would pay ‘heavy price’ for Gaza war: LiebermanIsraeli army arrests 16 Palestinians in West Bank raidsIsraeli court extends Palestinian woman’s detention
Israeli prime minister’s wife suspected of bribery