By Esat Firat
JERUSALEM (AA): Israel carried out a series of airstrikes in central and northern Gaza Strip late Friday.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said initial reports show a 3-year-old was injured in the attacks. Another 11-year-old child and two women, one pregnant, were also injured.
The Israeli missiles struck many homes in northern Gaza, in central Gaza, and in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, media sources confirmed.
Medical sources said Israeli missiles struck farmlands, and a few homes, in Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, causing excessive damage, and wounding two women, including one who is pregnant.
They added that a child, only three years of age, suffered wounds to her head and face, when the soldiers fired missiles into farmlands, east of the al-Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza.
Another child, eleven years of age, was also injured in the same refugee camp.
An Israeli army spokesperson claimed targets belonging to Hamas were hit.
This is the third day of Israeli aerial attacks and artillery shelling on the Gaza Strip, which, until Friday, have only caused damage to property.
Palestinian activists have been flying flaming kites and balloons above Israeli territory as part of ongoing anti-occupation protest along the Gaza border. The balloons have caused fires at some locations in Israeli settlements.
The Israeli army frequently organizes air strikes on the border areas, where it claims the kites and balloons are prepared.
The Gaza Strip, which has been reeling under a crippling Israeli air, land and sea blockade since 2007, has seven border crossings linking it to the outside world.
Six are controlled by Israel, while the the Rafah crossing is controlled by Egypt, which keeps it tightly sealed since the ouster of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in a 2013 military coup.
*Writing by Fahri Aksut
Addition report from Palestinian media
[Photo: 3-year old Rafif Huseyin receives a treatment at Al-Aqsa hospital after Israeli airstrikes hit several points in Gaza Strip on August 15, 2020 in Gaza City, Gaza. Photographer: Ali Jadallah/AA]
