02 July 2018•Update: 02 July 2018
By Hani al-Shaer
GAZA CITY, Palestine
A Palestinian youth was martyred on Monday, another seriously injured and a third detained near the Gaza-Israel security fence, the Israeli army has said.
According to an army statement, the incidents occurred after a group of young Palestinians crossed the fence east of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip.
The army claimed that the youths had been “armed with incendiary bombs” and had “attempted to torch an abandoned [Israeli] sniper nest”.
“Our forces spotted the infiltrators and opened fire on them,” the statement read.
“As a result, one of the youths was killed, another was seriously injured, and a third was picked up for interrogation,” it added.
The statement also alleged that Israeli army personnel had come under fire during the incident.
The army held Hamas responsible “for anything staged from the Gaza Strip”, going on to accuse the resistance group of “attempting to cross the fence and destroy [Israeli] security infrastructure”.
While Gaza’s Health Ministry has yet to comment on the army’s assertions, it reported earlier Monday that a Palestinian teen had been injured in the same area.
Reporting by Hani al-Shaer:Writing by Mahmoud Barakat
