Victim of last week's shelling
Photo: Reuters
IDF shell kills Palestinian teen
Gaza: Two youngsters wounded in IDF shelling; army expresses regret, says terrorists responsible
A Palestinian teenager was killed and two of his friends were wounded Monday evening after an IDF shell hit a group of youngsters in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya.
The latest incident marks the second week in a row where a Palestinian dies in Israeli shelling directed at the northern Gaza Strip. A nine-year-old girl died last week and 12 of her family members were hurt last week.
The teenager, Mamduh Ubaid, sustained critical wounds and died on the operating table in Gaza.
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Palestinian officials said that the number of Palestinian casualties has increased after the IDF reduced its safety margins and began firing shells at sites in closer proximity to residential homes.
The IDF responded with the following statement: "Israeli citizens are facing a daily indiscriminate terror offensive of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip at Israeli communities. The IDF works to safeguard Israeli citizens and responds with fire at launching sites, while aiming to refrain from hitting populated areas as much as is possible."
"To our regret, terror groups are taking advantage of the IDF's sensitivity to harming civilians and purposefully operates near and amidst populated areas, using the Palestinian population as a 'human shield,'" the army's statement said. "The IDF regrets any harm done to civilians and their property, but this is an unavoidable result of the continuation of the rocket terror. The responsibility lies with terror organizations and the Palestinian Authority that are not doing anything in order to curb the rocket fire."
