Palestinian Youth Shot by Israeli Troops Dies
A Palestinian youth shot by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip has died of his wounds, a Gaza medical official said Friday.
Adnan Abu Khater, aged 16, was shot Thursday near the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip, sources on both sides said.
Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the emergency services in the Islamist Hamas-run territory, said in a statement that Khater died of his wounds after soldiers shot him in the leg east of Jabaliya.
Al-Qudra later reported that two men were shot and wounded, one seriously and one moderately, in separate incidents Friday afternoon.
The military said soldiers were seeking to disperse a violent demonstration by about 100 Palestinians adjacent to the fence, who were throwing rocks at soldiers and rolling burning tires at the fence.
But a spokeswoman could not confirm if anyone was injured or if soldiers opened fire.
Earlier an army spokeswoman said of Thursday's incident that soldiers identified "a number of suspects" damaging the border fence.
She said the soldiers asked them to halt "numerous times but the suspects continued vandalizing the fence".
"Soldiers then resorted to aiming fire at the individuals' lower extremities... and "reported one hit".
Later Thursday, Palestinians fired a projectile that hit near the border fence in Israel, a police spokeswoman said, causing no harm or damage.
In response, Israeli warplanes carried out a series of strikes against Gaza early Friday, the military said.
An army statement said that "in response to rocket fire toward Israel", its "aircraft targeted a terror infrastructure site in the central Gaza Strip and three concealed rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip".
"Direct hits were confirmed."
There were no immediate reports of injuries in Gaza.
On Sunday, Palestinians said two people were wounded by Israeli tank fire in central Gaza.
Exchanges of fire between the sides peaked last Tuesday, when a sniper inside Gaza killed an Israeli repairing the border fence.
Israel retaliated against "terror sites" in Gaza with warplanes and tanks, killing a toddler and wounding at least six people.
Source: Agence France Presse
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