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Israeli troops kill 2 Palestinians

* Islamic Jihad says it’s no longer bound by truce with Israel

GAZA: Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinians in Gaza near the border, medics said on Saturday, in the first deadly incident since Palestinian militants agreed in March to abide by a truce.

Three Palestinian youths had been playing near the Israeli border and an army base in Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza when soldiers shot and killed two of them, Palestinian witnesses said, adding that they were unarmed.

A military source said troops spotted the Palestinians trying to approach the border and fired at them after they failed to heed calls and warning shots to stop.

“I saw a group of youths playing soccer in a playground about 50 meters from the fence,” said Wael Barhoum, 26. “Suddenly there was gunfire toward the youths from the Israeli side. I ran towards the playground and we saw two of the youths were dead and a third was wounded.”

The Islamic Jihad militant group said on Saturday that it was no longer bound by a de facto ceasefire with Israel after Israeli troops killed the two Palestinians, a spokesman for one of its armed wings said. “The Jerusalem Brigades is free of any commitment to calm after the Israeli shedding of Palestinian youths’ blood,” said an Islamic Jihad spokesman. reuters

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