An Israeli air strike killed two Palestinian teenagers near the central Gaza Strip town of Deir el-Balah early on Tuesday, a Palestinian medical official said, following an ongoing series of sporadic attacks on Gaza.
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Two citizens were killed in an Israeli air strike,” the official said. “The bodies were only recovered this morning when an ambulance could get to the scene.”
Hospital staff named the dead youths as Mohammed Bassem Abu Mealiq and Yusef al-Talbani, both 17. Witnesses said they had been trying to breach the fence bordering Israel when they were hit, according to AFP news agency reports.
Two men were earlier reported as injured in the strike, shortly after midnight (2100 GMT).
The Israeli military confirmed hitting Palestinians near the security fence in the central Gaza Strip.
Four rockets were later fired into southern Israel’s Hof Ashkelon district, with the military wing of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the Islamist movement’s military wing, said it fired the rockets in response to “Israel’s crimes.”
On Monday, Israeli aircraft killed four Palestinians in two sorties over the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun and wounded at least three, Palestinian medics said.
Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said one of those killed was a member of the group.
On Monday afternoon, the army said, a rocket was fired from Gaza into the Hof Ashkelon area and another fell at night. “Altogether six rockets were fired in the past 24 hours,” a spokeswoman told AFP on Tuesday morning.
Monday’s strikes came hours after gunmen mounted an early morning deadly ambush along Israel’s southern border with Egypt, killing an Israeli construction worker. Two of the gunmen were shot dead by Israeli troops.
On Saturday, at least two rockets were fired deep into southern Israel, causing no damage or casualties. It was not clear whether they were launched from Gaza or Sinai.
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, ruled by Islamist Hamas, have launched Grad rockets at Israel from the coastal territory in the past. Israel says militants have also crossed into Sinai to launch similar attacks on its territory.
Overnight on Sunday, Israeli aircraft carried out a series of strikes in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from the enclave. Medical sources in Gaza said seven people were wounded.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces Tuesday seized five water tankers in al-Buqia area of the Jordan Valley, the only source of water in some parts of the occupied Valley, according to local official.
Aref Daraghme, head of Wadi al-Maleh village council, said that Israeli forces seized the tankers that were used to supply parts of the occupied Jordan Valley with drinking water, leaving several families that depend on animal husbandry for a living with no water.
Local residents in these remote areas of the Jordan Valley rely on tankers for their daily water supply since the Israeli authorities prohibit development in these areas in an attempt to drive residents away from their land in order to seize it.
Source: Agencies