Three Palestinians have been killed and three injured, on Friday, when an unexploded Israeli weapon detonated in the al-Shuja’eyya neighborhood of eastern Gaza City.Ma’an correspondence in Gaza said that a huge explosion was heard in Shuja’eyya and that ambulances immediately rushed to the area.
Dr. Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, said that two Palestinians were killed in the explosion.
The three were identified as Ayman Ziad Abu Jibba and Abdullah Jibril Abu Aser, both 23 years of age, and Mohammad Riyadh Abu Aser, 24; their bodies were taken to al-Shifa hospital, in Gaza City.
In mid-August, six people were killed in a similar explosion. Watch groups have warned that the unexploded ordnance is a particular threat to children, who often play with the weapons as if they were toys.
According to Ma’an, a 2012 report published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that 111 civilians, 64 of whom were children, died as a result of unexploded ordnance between 2009 and 2012 — an average of four every month, in 2012.
Although explosives teams have been working across the region to disable and destroy unexploded weapons, a lack of proper equipment and resources, due to the seven-year siege on the coastal enclave, have considerably hindered such efforts.
