The Israeli military launched fresh attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip, after Israeli troops killed two Palestinian teenagers during anti-occupation rallies near the fence separating the coastal sliver from the occupied territories. RNA - Palestinian media reported that an Israeli tank shelled an outpost purportedly belonging to the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement North of Beit Hanoun and a regime drone struck a Hamas observation post near Beit Lahia early on Saturday.
The Israeli military confirmed the attack and claimed it was in response to five rockets allegedly fired by Hamas into the occupied territories on Friday night, setting off sirens in Israeli settlements along the Gaza border as well as the city of Sderot.
It added that no casualties were caused by the rockets, one of which landed in an open field outside Sderot.
The Israeli military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, with civilians being the main target of such attacks.
The rockets fired hours after Israeli troops killed two Palestinians, Ali al-Ashqar, 17, who was shot in the head East of Jabalya, while 14-year-old Khaled Abu Bakr al-Rubaie was shot dead east of Gaza City. Israeli forces also wounded at least 66 other Palestinian protesters, 38 from gunfire, in demonstrations along the border.
The Great March of Return was launched in late March 2018 in an effort to shed light on the Palestinian refugees' right of return and pressure Israel to lift the 13-year-long blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Since the start of the border protests, the Israeli occupation army has killed more than 320 Palestinians and injured over 32,000 in the Gaza Strip.
A UN fact-finding mission has announced that Israeli forces committed rights violations during their crackdown against Palestinian demonstrators in the Gaza Strip last year that may amount to “war crimes”, urging the regime’s military to prevent its snipers from using lethal force against the demonstrators.
The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory presented its full report in mid-May, saying Israeli forces breached international human rights by using live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian protesters during the anti-Israel demonstrations in Gaza
The UN has warned that 1,700 Gazans shot by Israel Defense Forces at protests may need amputations in the next two years because of a lack of healthcare funding to help them recover.
Gaza has been under Israeli siege since June 2007, which has caused a decline in living standards. Israel has also launched three major wars against the enclave since 2008, killing thousands of Gazans each time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor infrastructure.
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