Last update - 00:00 10/09/2006
IDF tank shell kills Palestinian teenager, hurts another in Rafah
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters
An Israel Defense Forces tank shell landed near a group of Palestinians in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on Sunday, killing a 14-year-old boy and seriously wounding his 19-year-old brother, Palestinian witnesses and medics said.
An IDF spokesman confirmed the incident, saying forces in the area had identified two Palestinians whom they suspected of planting explosives and had fired a tank shell at them.
The head of the Rafah hospital, Ali Musa, identified the dead as Jihad Abu Snaimah, and said the wounded 19-year-old was a relative of his. Residents said both were civilians.
The military has been pressing an offensive in Gaza since late June, following the kidnapping of one its soldiers by Gaza militants. The army has set up a base at a disused airport near Rafah.