An Israeli air raid on the northern Gaza Strip killed two Palestinians and wounded a third on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Hamas-run emergency services told AFP. "We recovered one martyr and two other people with injuries after the air raid carried out by occupation aircraft in Beit Hanun," spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya told AFP, naming the dead man as Mohammed Abu Awda, 23.
One of those who had been in critical condition died later of his wounds, he said, naming him as Khaled al-Zaanin, 17. The strike hit a field used by Hamas militants just east of Beit Hanun, Palestinian security sources said. But Abu Selmiya said the two were civilians who were "setting traps for birds" in the border area.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the target was "a terrorist squad that was attempting to place an explosive device by the security fence" in the second such incident this year. She said an Israeli aircraft and the armoured corps had fired at the squad, and the device that they were trying to plant had exploded.