At least three Palestinians were killed by Israeli aircraft fire in central Gaza early Sunday evening, medics reported.
Two of the victims were identified as Hasan Al-Qatarawi and Awad Naseir. They were transferred to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza City.
A third victim’s body could not immediately be identified because it was blown to pieces as a result of the airstrike, according to Muawiya Hassanein, the Gaza Health Ministry’s director of ambulance and emergency services.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that the country’s air force was operating in the area. He told Ma’an the airstrike targeted “a squad of terrorists in physical preparation of launching rockets” into southern Israel.
“We will not tolerate the firing of rockets by terrorists into Israel, or any attempt to disrupt the calm in Israel’s southern communities, and will respond,” the spokesman added.
Reuters news agency quoted Hamas sources as saying all three of the slain Palestinians were fighters, which Ma’an could not independently confirm.
Earlier, two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli artillery in northern Gaza, Hassanein reported. He said they were shot by tank fire near an excavation site at the former Dugnit settlement. Witnesses reported hearing artillery shelling, expecting those killed to be workers in the area.
An Israeli military spokesman said the army was not familiar with that incident.
Late Thursday night, Israeli warplanes carried out a series of raids on sites throughout the Gaza Strip, killing three Palestinians. A Palestinian was seriously injured in a Israeli artillery shelling on farmlands east of the Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp.
The incident was the latest in an escalating string of cross-border violence, with two projectiles reportedly launched from Gaza and landing in southern Israel on Saturday morning.
Friday saw four airstrikes hit locations across the besieged coastal area, reportedly in retaliation for a series of mortar shell barrages launched by the An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees.
Notes/Sources:
The article, as written by the Maan News staff, can be found at Maan News entitled: “Israeli strike kills 3 in central Gaza”
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