Palestinians Say Israeli Air Strikes Killed Two in Gaza Strip
By VOA News
20 May 2008
Palestinian medical workers say two Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed a 13-year-old boy and a Palestinian man.
The medical workers say at least one other Palestinian was wounded in Tuesday's attack near the territory's border with Israel.
The Israeli army says the first air strike was aimed at a group of people who had just launched a rocket towards Israel. The army says aircraft carried out the second strike on militants planting explosives near the fence Israel has erected along its Gaza border.
Militants loyal to Hamas have been firing rockets into Israel since the radical group took over the Gaza Strip last June.
To try to stop the attacks, Israel has imposed a strict blockade on the region, depriving residents in the impoverished territory of fuel and supplies.
The United Nations said today in its annual relief and works agency report that 80 percent of the population in Gaza lives on less than $2.50 a day.
U.N. officials say higher food prices and growing poverty in Gaza and other Palestinian territories are making it difficult for people to buy quality food and increasing cases of non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes.
Egypt has been trying to broker a truce between Israel and the Hamas leadership to end attacks and the blockade in Gaza.
Israeli and Hamas officials met separately with Egyptian leaders in Egypt Monday.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said a truce could not be reached until Hamas releases a captured Israeli soldier.
Hamas has said the cease-fire and the soldier's release should remain separate issues.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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