ANSD : Palestinian teens killed as Israel attacks Gaza

SAT 27 - 4 - 2024

Date: Feb 19, 2018
Source: The Daily Star

Palestinian teens killed as Israel attacks Gaza

GAZA CITY, Palestine: Israeli fire killed two Palestinian teenagers in Gaza, local health officials said Sunday, after Israel launched attacks against 18 targets in the enclave in response to an explosion that wounded four Israeli soldiers.

The explosion Saturday and ensuing Israeli airstrikes marked one of the most serious escalations in the Hamas-ruled territory since both sides fought a war in 2014.

Israel’s army said it attacked “18 terror targets belonging to the Hamas terror organization” in two waves of airstrikes.

“Eight targets were attacked in a military compound near Deir el Balah, which belongs to the Hamas terror organization, including weapon-manufacturing and training infrastructures,” it said in a statement.

Earlier the army said fighter jets had targeted “six military targets in Gaza belonging to Hamas, including: a terror tunnel in the Zeitoun area and military compounds near Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.”

Two Palestinians were injured in airstrikes that hit three bases belonging to Hamas in the east of the blockaded Gaza enclave, Palestinian sources said.

Speaking at a security conference in Munich late Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called the border blast “very serious” and pledged to “respond appropriately.”

According to witnesses, the two dead Palestinians were shot by Israeli forces near the border Saturday. They were identified by the Gaza Health Ministry as Salam Sabah and Abdullah Abu Sheikha, both 17, who were killed east of Rafah in the south of the enclave.

The Israeli army said its forces had fired “warning shots” at a number of Palestinians approaching the border fence “in a suspicious manner.”

Four Israeli soldiers were wounded, two severely, when an improvised explosive device blew up along the Gaza border fence, but none of their lives were in danger, the army said.

A hospital spokeswoman later said that the condition of one of those seriously wounded had improved.

Spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said a “rogue group” had claimed responsibility for the bomb blast, likely indicating one of the more radical groups who are present in Gaza.

But he insisted that “from our point of view Hamas is responsible” and said the explosive had been planted during a protest arranged by the group Friday.

According to Conricus, Israeli soldiers saw a flag on a pole on the Gazan side of the border fence, with the device exploding when one of them grabbed it.

According to Palestinian security sources, the explosion took place east of the city of Khan Younis.

In response Israeli forces said a tank promptly opened fire at an “observation post” in southern Gaza, causing no injuries on the Palestinian side.

A projectile launched from the Gaza Strip hit near a home in a southern Israeli community, damaging a building but causing no injuries, Israeli authorities said.

Israel holds the Palestinian movement Hamas responsible for any fire from the blockaded coastal enclave. The Israeli army responds automatically to any strikes on its territory, generally targeting Hamas facilities.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said it had fired at Israeli jets overhead. Conricus denied the claim.

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