GAZA: Two Palestinian fighters were killed and another critically wounded in an Israeli airstrike yesterday morning in the northern Gaza Strip, the medical sources and witnesses said.
However, an Israeli military spokesman denied that Israeli forces had launched any strike in the northern Gaza Strip. “We have not carried out any strike in northern Gaza in recent hours. The explosion might be due to mishandling of weapons,” the spokesman said.
Al-Nasr Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, said in a statement yesterday that two of its fighters were killed when an Israeli drone targeted them near Al-Shohdaa cemetery east of Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
Abu Al-Ataya, a spokesman for the brigades, said that the fighters were on an exploratory mission in the northern Gaza Strip, but not carrying projectiles. The Brigades accused Israel of targeting them and vowed to retaliate.
Some witnesses said that an Israeli drone fired a rocket at a group of fighters near Jabaliya border town. Medical sources said that one fighter was killed on the spot and a second died later in the hospital. They were identified as Abdallah Al-Maniyaa and Fawzi Hamad.
Meanwhile, UN aid workers are turning away thousands of Gaza residents meant to pick up food from UN distribution centers because the international organization has run out of supplies.
Some 20,000 people were meant to pick up rice, flour, sugar and oil yesterday from a UN agency that distributes aid in Gaza. In all, some 750,000 Gazans are eligible for food aid.
But the UN said it doesn’t have enough food to distribute because of the closure of Gaza by Israel.
— With input from agencies
