2 Palestinians Martyred in Israeli Strike near Gaza-Egypt Border

Two Palestinians were martyred and five were injured during a reported airstrike on a smuggling tunnel between Egypt and Gaza on Wednesday night, official Palestinian sources said.

Gaza Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said on Thursday that Hussam Hamid al-Sufi, 24, from the town of Rafah, and Muhammad Anwar al-Aqraa, a 38-year-old resident of Gaza City, were martyred in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, while five other Palestinians were injured.

The casualties came in the wake of multiple airstrikes launched by the Israeli army inside the Gaza Strip on Monday which injured two Palestinians. The occupation army claimed that the strike were in response to a rocket that landed in an open area in the Ashkelon region of the occupied territories’ south.

The Gaza-based al-Mezan Center for Human Rights expressed concern on Tuesday that the Zionist entity could be leading up to a wide-scale military offensive.

The rights group called on the international community to “act promptly against Israel’s military escalation, to fulfill their obligations to protect civilians, and ensure respect for the rules of international law,” stressing that “acting before a full-scale military bombardment is launched is crucial to ensuring the protection of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.”