One Palestinian was killed by an explosion at the Gaza border yesterday, the Gaza Health Ministry said, hours after the Israeli army bombed targets in the coastal enclave.
A 13-year-old Palestinian boy also died yesterday from shot wounds he received during violent clashes with Israeli soldiers, the ministry said.
Referring to the first incident, the Israeli army said a group of five Palestinians attempted to breach the Gaza border into Israel to damage Israeli “security infrastructure,” which exploded, injuring several Palestinians.
A spokeswoman would not clarify the source of the explosion.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said a 24-year-old was also killed during the incident.
Palestinian media said that the victim had been shot by Israeli soldiers, but an Israeli army spokeswoman in Tel Aviv denied that any shots had been fired during the incident.
Earlier yesterday, the army said it had bombed several targets in response to the launch of flaming kites and balloons by Palestinians into Israel in recent days. Fighter jets struck nine targets including two military compounds and a munitions manufacturing site belonging to Hamas, the organisation which controls Gaza, the army said.
The raids followed similar strikes on Sunday, in which the army said it had targeted two vehicles it alleged were being used by Palestinians to launch the kites which have set fire to Israeli agricultural land along the border.
Palestinians have been protesting nearly every week since March 30 along the Gaza border, calling for a lifting of the Israeli blockade on the coastal enclave and a return to lands in present-day Israel that Palestinian refugees had fled.
One hundred and thirty people have been killed and scores injured during the protests, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The Israeli army says the death toll given by the ministry includes fighters carrying out attacks.
Earlier, the 13-year-old Palestinian Zakaria Bishbash was hit in the stomach by Israeli army fire several days ago, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, without giving further details.
The protests peaked on May 14 when at least 61 Palestinians were killed as thousands approached the heavily guarded border fence on the same day the United States moved its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Israel says its actions are necessary to defend its borders and stop infiltrations.


Related Story