Israeli air raids kill two Palestinian teens in Gaza
Israeli air raids kill two Palestinian teens in Gaza
Hamas says it launched rockets and mortar fire in response to Israeli air strikes, which also left 14 people wounded.
At least two teenagers in the Gaza Strip have been killed by Israeli air raids, according toPalestinian health officials, as Israel carried out the largest daylight attack on the besieged enclave since the 2014 war.
Amir al-Nimra, 15, and Luay Kaheel, 16, died of their wounds on Saturday shortly after an air strike targeted al-Kutaiba, an area in western Gaza, the health ministry said.
 |
| Mother of 15-year-old Amir al-Nimri mourns her son's death outside the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera] |
Twelve others were wounded.
The al-Kutaiba square is adjacent to a park frequently visited by families over the weekend, especially during the summer months, witnesses told Al Jazeera.
"That's why so many civilians have been hurt in the latest strike," Maram Humaid, a journalist in the Strip, said.
Two other people were wounded in earlier air raids, according to health officials in Gaza, raising the total figure of those suffering injuries to 14.
 |
A wounded man walks the halls of Gaza's al-Shifa hospital following the latest wave of Israeli air strikes that targeted a residential building in the western part of the Strip [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]
|
In a Twitter post, the Israeli military confirmed it targeted a "high-rise building" and said it had "warned" residents to evacuate prior to the attack.
Earlier in the day, it said it attacked several Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip, as more than 30 rockets and mortars were fired towards Israel from the besieged enclave.
The exchange came hours after the Israeli army killed two Palestinians, including a teenage boy, and wounded hundreds at protests along the fence with Israel on Friday.
The Israeli army said its fighter jets targeted "complexes used to prepare arson terror attacks and a Hamas terror training facility". It also said it struck two Hamas tunnels, one in southern Gaza and one in the north, as well as other infrastructure across the besieged coastal territory.
During the raids, Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system intercepted six rockets fired from the Gaza Strip after air raid sirens went off.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group was responsible for the mortar fire on Israel and that they were carried out "in response to the Israeli air strikes".
"The protection and the defence of our people is a national duty and a strategic choice," Barhoum said.
The escalation came just hours after a 15-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces at protests in the Gaza Strip near the fence with Israel and scores were wounded. A 20-year-old died on Saturday of gunshot wounds.
Hundreds of protesters had amassed near the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Friday to commemorate more than 100 days since the start of the Great March of Return mass rallies.
Since the protests began on March 30, at least 138 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and more than 160,000 have been wounded.
Its main message is to call for the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants who were violently expelled from their homes in the territories taken over by Israel during the 1948 war, known to Arabs as the Nakba.
'Open-air prison'
The Gaza Strip is but one of the focal points in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
More than two million Palestinians are packed into the Gaza Strip, a territory the size of the US city of Detroit - about 360sq km - which has been described as "the world's largest open-air prison".
Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but, citing security concerns, maintains tight control of its land and sea borders, which has reduced its economy to a state of collapse.
Egypt also restricts movement in and out of Gaza on its border.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled since 2014 and Israeli settlements have expanded in occupied territory Palestinians intended to become part of their eventual state.
Gaza experienced its most significant conflict in 2014, when at least 2,251 Palestinians, most of whom were civilians, were killed. At least 66 Israeli soldiers and six civilians were also killed.
مواضيع ذات صلة