2 Palestinian Teenagers Killed by Israeli Occupation Forces in Rafah

Israeli airstrike kills two Palestinian youths in southern Gaza

Date: 02 / 12 / 2008 Time: 15:10
Gaza – Ma’an –

Two Palestinian teenagers were killed and four others were injured in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza on Tuesday.

Israeli occupation forces helicopters launched an attack on the road to the disused Yasser Arafat Airport east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to Mu’awiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, one of the wounded people is in critical condition at the European Hospital in the city of Khan Younis.

Medics said the dead arrived ‘torn to pieces’ at Abu Yousuf Al-Najjar Hospital, in the city of Rafah.

Hassanain identified the victims as 15-year-old Ramzi Al-Duhaini and 17-year-old Ahmad Hammad.

Earlier, Israeli military vehicles, including tanks and bulldozers, entered the airport area 200 meters from the border with Israel.

Clashes erupted between the invading force and Palestinian fighters who fired several mortar rounds. Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades said their fighters launched five mortar shells at the vehicles.

The Israeli ground forces left on Tuesday morning, and then returned in the afternoon, around the time of the air raid.

The Israeli attack came after a homemade projectile fired from the northern Gaza Strip, landed in Israeli territory near Gaza, causing no damage. The Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for that attack.

Also on Tuesday the Hamas movement began a series of consultations with other Palestinian factions regarding the future of a fragile ceasefire agreement with Israel. The Egyptian-brokered truce, which went into effect in June, has been undermined by weeks of violence and an ongoing blockade Gaza's borders. The agreement is due to expire on 19 December.

***Updated at 15:55 local time

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