ISRAELI OCCUPATION STRIKES GAZA, TWO INJURED
Gaza, 24 Shafar 1435/27 Desember 2013 (MINA) – Palestinian medical sources have reported that two Palestinians have been injured after the Israeli Air Force carried out several air strikes targeting different parts of the coastal region.
Israeli F-16 jets fired missiles into several areas in Gaza city, mainly Sheikh Radwan, Al-Hawouz, and other areas, north of the Gaza Strip, in addition to firing missiles into lands, south of the city.
Furthermore, the Air Force fired missiles into a vacant land, east of the Ash-Shujaeyya, close to the location where a Palestinian gunman shot and killed an Israeli military engineer a few days ago.
In addition, an Israeli Apache helicopter fired missiles in an area, north of Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Medical sources said that two Palestinians were hospitalized after suffering moderate injuries.
Israeli Army Spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said that the attacks also took place in response to shells fired from Gaza into an area in the Ashkelon shore area, south of the country, causing no damages or injuries.
He stated that Hamas is responsible for the escalation and any further escalation, as “it controls Gaza”, and added that Israel will retaliate harshly.
The Israeli army said that in response to the two rockets launched Thursday, its aircraft “targeted terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.”
“A weapons-manufacturing facility was targeted in the central Gaza Strip, and a weapons storage facility was targeted in the northern Gaza Strip. Direct hits were confirmed,” a statement said.
On Tuesday, Israel also launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, killing a 3-year-old girl and injuring her mother and brother, after an Israeli Civil Defense worker was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper at the border in the northern Gaza Strip.
The week before the sniper attack, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian scavenging for metal and plastic scraps near the border, and wounded at least four Gazans in attacks across the Gaza Strip.
A military spokeswoman said the man who was killed was “attempting to lay an explosive device.”
Israeli forces frequently shoot at farmers and other civilians inside the Gaza Strip if they approach large swathes of land near the border that the Israeli military has deemed off-limits to Palestinians.
The “security buffer zone” extends between 500 meters and 1500 meters into the Strip, effectively turning local farms into no-go zones.
According to UNOCHA, 17 percent of Gaza’s total land area and 35 percent of its agricultural land were within the buffer zone as of 2010, directly affecting the lives and livelihoods of more than 100,000 Gazans.
The Gaza Strip has been under a severe economic blockade imposed by the state of Israel since 2006. (T/P012/P04).
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
