Palestinian toddler killed by Israeli tank
Al Akhbar – June 23, 2012
A four-year-old boy was killed while six other Palestinians were wounded as Israeli tanks carried out an assault on Gaza on Saturday, medical officials said.
The Jewish state also launched fresh airstrikes in the besieged area, injuring 20 people, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Four-year-old Muatazz al-Sawwaf was killed and three others injured, one seriously, by Israeli tank fire in the Abasan neighborhood east of Khan Younis, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.
Three people were wounded in a separate tank attack in Beit Lahiya, north Gaza, when Israeli forces opened fire at farmers tending their land, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency said.
Israel said the overnight airstrikes targeted two camps of the armed wing of Hamas in central and northern Gaza, but provided no evidence for the claims.
At least 20 people were injured in the bombings, which follow similar attacks on Friday that killed two Palestinians and left four wounded.
A first Israeli air strike on Friday afternoon targeted the east of Al-Bureij in the central part of the Gaza Strip, killing Basel Ahmad, 29, local medical sources said.
Two other Palestinians were wounded in the strike, one of them seriously, the sources added.
A second Israel air strike killed another Palestinian in the north of Gaza.
Hammam Abou Qadous, 20, died of his wounds after being hit as he traveled on his motorbike in the northern part of the Gaza Strip Friday evening, Palestinian medical sources said.
Two other Palestinians were slightly injured in the same attack, they added.
The attacks represent a flagrant violation of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that went into force on Friday.
Hamas, in a rare show of force, responded with rocket fire, but only inflicted minimal material damage on Israeli properties.
Hamas has previously refrained from responding to unprovoked Israeli attacks on Gaza in a bid to avoid being drawn into a new war with the Jewish state.
Israel has maintained a crippling siege on the Gaza Strip since 2007, effectively destroying the local economy and plunging the 1.5 million Palestinians into poverty.
(Al-Akhbar, Ma’an, AFP)
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