Palestinian medical sources reported, on Thursday afternoon, that two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting an area in Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.Adham Abu Salmiyya, spokesperson of the Medical and Emergency Services in Gaza, reported that the two are farmers who were working in their lands when the army fired missiles at them.
They were identified as Mahmoud Abu Hilmiyya, 22, and Nasr Oleyyan, 23; their bodies were severely mutilated, and their remains were moved to Kamal Odwan Hospital in the city.
Furthermore, Palestinian fighters exchanged fire with an Israeli battalion invading an area in northern Gaza. The army fired three artillery shells towards the fighters.
Local sources reported that the soldiers were trying to invade Hamdouna area, north of Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
The sources added that the fighters destroyed an Israeli military jeep while soldiers of the Israeli Engineering Corps were scouting the area.
The Israeli Army claimed that Palestinian fighters opened fire at soldiers near the Gaza border, and that the army retaliated and killed the two fighters, Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported.
Haaretz added that the soldiers were conducting “routine work” near the Kibbutz of Zikim when the fighters opened fire at them causing damage to one military vehicle.
Furthermore, the army fired at least two missiles into an open area in northern Gaza, while the Israeli choppers and drones were flying over different parts of the coastal region.
The army said that Palestinian fighters fired at least 30 shells towards Israel last week killing one Israeli and wounding four others.
The death of the two Palestinians brings the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army since Sunday to 14; most of them are fighters of the Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad.
