Ten-year-old Yassin Abu Khoussa was killed in the predawn air strike, while his six-year-old sibling Israa’ Abu Khoussa succumbed to her wounds later on Saturday.
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The Israeli army did not comment on the reports of the deaths, but said its air strikes were directed at Hamas terror infrastructure.
Yasin Abu Khussa, 10, died in a raid on a base of the group’s military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassem Brigades, at Beit Lahiya in the north of the strip, he said – one of four strikes the Israeli military said it carried out in response to rocket fire into Israel. “The (military) will continue to act to protect against those who threaten innocent lives and Israel’s sovereignty”, he said.
Gaza rocket fire has tapered off significantly since a 2014 war when militants fired thousands of rockets and mortars into Israel and over 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and six Israeli civilians and 67 soldiers were killed.
The Shin Bet security agency said in a statement that the station, Palestine Today, backed the Islamic Jihad group and had been helping to fuel a five-month wave of violence. “Incitement was broadcast on the television station as well as the Internet”, it said. A series of recent tunnel collapses in Gaza have killed dozens of Palestinians, primarily Hamas militants.
Gaza security sources told AFP that Mahmud Zahar, Khalil al-Haya, Imad al-Alami and Nizar Awadallah passed through the southern Gaza Rafah terminal, the only crossing point with the enclave not controlled by Israel.
An Israeli army order in Arabic declaring the premises closed indefinitely was posted on the door.
A USA government cable released by WikiLeaks quotes Israeli officials admitting that the blockade keeps the Gazan economy “functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis”.
Hamas wrested control of the territory in a brief 2007 civil war with forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who holds sway in the occupied West Bank.
Special correspondent Shuttleworth reported from Jerusalem.
He also ordered the cancellation of Israeli work permits for relatives of Palestinian attackers and fast-track demolition of perpetrators’ homes.
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Many of the Palestinians were killed while allegedly carrying out or attempting to carry out knife or car-ramming attacks.
