Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians, one of them a 13-year-old boy, and wounded 415 others with live fire and tear gas during protests along the Gaza border on Friday, Gaza health officials said.

Gaza medical officials said the boy, Yasser Abu Al-Naja and Mohammad Al-Hamayda, 24, were hit by live bullets. They added that four other men wounded by live fire were in critical condition.

The 13-year-old was fatally shot in the head and a 24-year-old man died of gunshot wounds to his leg and abdomen, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

A paramedic, Mutasem Khatib, said the teenager was throwing stones "very close to the fence" before he was shot.

"It was a critical injury from the beginning, which damaged a significant portion of his head," Khatib said in a telephone interview. "He died as soon as we arrived at the hospital."

Gaza officials say Israeli troops have killed at least 135 people since the weekly protests began on March 30.

Palestinians say the protests are a popular outpouring of rage against Israel by refugees demanding the right to return to homes their families fled or were driven from on Israel's founding 70 years ago.

Israel's deadly tactics have drawn international condemnation. But support has come from its main ally, the United States.

Palestinian protesters have been staging large sit-ins and demonstrations along the security fence to which Israeli troops have responded with teargas and gunfire.

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 of Israel's decade-long blockade of Gaza, which has gutted the coastal territory's economy and continues to deprive its two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.