Israel Kills Two Teenagers in Occupied Palestine, Gaza Faces Humanitarian Catastrophe

Escalating the tension at the besieged coastal strip of Gaza, Israeli jets bombed the city killing two teenagers on Sunday morning. The air raid came after a night of shelling of the city by Israeli tanks. The recent wave of attack is one of most serve incident after 2014 Gaza war- Operation Protective Edge. The brutal military campaign by Israel had killed more than two thousand Palestinians including around 490 children. Also around six Israeli civilians were killed during the war.

According to reports, Salem Mohammad Sabah, and Abdullah Abu Sheikha, both aged 17 were killed in the attack, which targeted Salam neighbourhood in the city of Rafah.

Two youths were also injured in the attack that also targeted the city of Beit Hanoun, to the northeast of Gaza, and in the city of Khan Younes, in southern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said that its response came after four of its soldiers were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion against their military jeep near Khan Yunis.

The recent escalation came just days after a severe flare-up between Israel and Syria. Last week, Syrian air defence batteries shot down an Israeli F16 after it violated the Syrian airspace near the T4 airbase. According to Israel, it was tracking an ‘enemy’ drone that entered Israeli territory from Syrian side and targeting the Iranian control system. Israel claims that the drone was operated by Iran.

According to critics, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is deep in the corruption soup, is attempting to distract the public focus from the corruption charges against him by deliberately escalating the security situation.

Aida Touma-Sliman from the Joint List, which comprises Arab representatives at the Israeli parliament Knesset, said that “Netanyahu and his regime are submerged up to their necks in corruption affairs, on the eve of the publication of the [police] recommendations.”

“Netanyahu is willing to instigate a regional war in which the peoples of the region will pay a heavy price just for his political survival,” she added.

Meanwhile, Gaza is reeling under a severe humanitarian situation, which according to United Nation is a ‘tickling time bomb’. Exacerbated by Israel’s military siege and bombing, and recent fund cuts by the United States to UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), Gaza is at the verge of a ‘catastrophe’.

Nikolay Mladenov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told the UN security council “that drinking water is short, hospitals have been closed and doctors stopped doing surgeries.”

Hospitals are closing downs, as Gaza’s diesel generators have almost fallen silent, with Egypt discontinuing the supply of diesel. Hospitals are facing serve scarcity of life-saving medicines. The sewage treatments plants have stopped working. Water treatment plants are unable to function leading to millions without drinking water supplies.

Many of Gaza’s vital infrastructures, along with thousands of houses were razed to the ground by Israel during the 2014 war.