Israeli Airstrike Kills 3 Palestinian Teenagers in Gaza
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Three Palestinian boys aged between 13 and 14 were killed in an Israeli aerial attack in the southeastern Gaza Strip, according to health officials.
Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for the health ministry of Gaza, identified the children as Khaled Bassam Mahmoud Abu Saeed, 14; Abdul Hameed Mohammed Abdul Aziz Abu Zaher, 13; and Mohammed Ibrahim Abdullah al-Sutari, 13.
He said ambulances brought their bodies to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Palestinian news agency Wafa said the Israeli army "reportedly opened fire toward the ambulances and prevented their access" to the scene of the bombing, located northeast of Khan Younis.
In a statement, the Israeli military said its aircraft fired upon three Palestinians who approached the fence and "were apparently involved in placing an improvised explosive device (IED) adjacent" to the fence, Al Jazeera reported.
The killings come a day after Israel launched air raids on more than 80 locations in the Gaza Strip after it said rockets were fired from there into southern occupied territories.
For the last seven months, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been staging regular demonstrations along the fence with Israel to demand the right to return to their homes from which they were forcibly expelled from in 1948.
They also demand an end to the years-long Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza, which has devastated the coastal enclave's economy and deprived its more than two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.
Since the rallies began on March 30, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more wounded by Israeli forces.