GAZA, (DNA) – Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian and wounded at least 220 others at protests along the Gaza border on Friday, Gaza health officials said, as diplomats sought to secure a durable ceasefire deal.

Over four months of weekly Friday border protests that began on March 30 have reduced in intensity lately but organizers have vowed they would continue until Israel lifts economic sanctions on the coastal enclave.

The Israeli military said troops had responded with “riot dispersal means” and had operated “according to standard operating procedures,” a term that refers to the use of accurate live fire, after some Gazans broke through the border fence and attacked troops with firebombs and an explosive device.

It said some 8,000 Gazans had participated in the protests at five locations along the border.

A Gaza hospital official said of the 220 hurt, 90 suffered wounds as a result of the live fire. The dead was a 25-year-old man. At least 156 Palestinians have been killed in the protests and one Israeli soldier was shot dead by a sniper in Gaza.

Israel has lost tracts of farmland and forests to fires set by kites and helium balloons laden with incendiary material and flown over from Gaza.