Middle East News
Palestinian boy dies from wounds day after truce
Mar 14, 2012, 14:21 GMT
Gaza City - A Palestinian boy who died Wednesday of wounds sustained in an incident two days earlier had been injured by an errant bullet fired during a funeral, and not during an Israeli air raid, the head of Gaza's emergency services said Wednesday.
The seven-year-old was injured when mourners at a funeral for a Palestinian killed in the recent Israeli-Palestinian clashes fired their guns in the air, Adham Abu Salmiya said.
Earlier reports said the boy had been injured in an Israeli airstrike on Monday, but Israel denied carrying out any airstrikes in the area in northern Gaza at the time.
The boy's death brings to 26 the number of Palestinians killed during four days of violence that erupted on Friday.
The escalation ended Tuesday morning, when a fragile Egyptian-brokered ceasefire came into effect.
Despite the truce announcement, militants fired eight rockets and mortar shells on Tuesday, and early Wednesday the Israel Air Force launched two airstrikes on northern Gaza.
One Israeli man was injured, a military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv told dpa.
She said the Israel Air Force struck two rocket launching sites in northern Gaza at about 2 am (0000 GMT) Wednesday. Palestinians reported that a bamboo workshop was destroyed and nearby shops damaged near Gaza City.
No projectiles landed in Israel Wednesday, the spokeswoman said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israel would respond to each violation of the ceasefire.
'Our message is clear: Quiet will bring quiet. Whoever violates it or even tries to violate it - we will find him,' he told a meeting of government ministry officials in Jerusalem.
Thousands of Islamic Jihad supporters marched in Gaza City late Tuesday, marking a 'victory' after the four days of violence, during which militants fired more than 200 rockets at southern Israel, and Israel launched some three dozen airstrikes.
Exiled Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shalah, addressing the crowd by phone, threatened that his faction was ready to launch missiles deeper into central Israel, the next time it attacked Gaza.
The violence, the worst between the sides since last August, broke out after Israel assassinated Zohair al-Qaisi, secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), who was allegedly planning a cross-border attack.
Four of the Palestinian dead were civilians, including a 12-year-old boy killed by shrapnel while on his way to school. The rest were militants from the Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committees.
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