News / Palestine

8 Palestinians killed, over 10 injured as Israeli jets bomb Gaza tunnel

Monday, 30 October 2017 4:33 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 30 October 2017 5:13 PM ]

Palestinian stand outside a medical facility in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, where resistance fighters injured in an Israeli airstrike against a lifeline tunnel on October 30, 2017 have been taken. (Photo via Twitter)

At least eight Palestinian men have lost their lives and more than 10 others sustained injuries when Israeli fighter jets bombarded and destroyed a lifeline tunnel in the southern part of the besieged Gaza Strip.

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified six of the victims as 25-year-old Ahmad Khalil Abu Armanah, 27-year-old Omar Nassar al-Flit, 30-year-old Misbah Fa’iq Shubair, 22-year-old Mohammed Marwan al-Agha, Arafat Abu Morshed, Hassan Abu Hassanain and.

The sources added that Morshed and Hassanain were two senior commanders of al-Quds Brigades, which is the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.

Following the attack, Palestinians gathered in front of al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Khan Yunis in protest at Israel’s act of aggression.

Meanwhile, Israeli military officials have intensified security measures on the border with Gaza Strip in the wake of the deadly aerial assault.

The tunnel, which was still under construction, reportedly belonged to Hamas resistance movement and infiltrated into the heart of occupied Palestinian territories.

Plumes of black smoke rise up in the sky after Israeli fighter jets bomb and destroy a lifeline tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis. (Photo by Palestine al-Aan news agency)

Gaza's Health Ministry spokesman, Ashraf al-Qidra, had earlier stated that some of the wounded Palestinians were in critical condition.

Israel and the Egyptian military have launched a campaign to destroy the tunnels, preventing the people in Gaza from bringing most of their basic goods like construction materials, food, and fuel into the coastal enclave.

Tunnels are the only lifeline for Palestinians living under the Israeli siege and Egypt has so far destroyed hundreds of them.

In this file photo, a Palestinian man works outside a lifeline tunnel, which connects the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

The Israeli regime denies about 1.8 million people in Gaza their basic rights, such as freedom of movement, jobs with proper wages as well as adequate healthcare and education.

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