3 Gaza children killed near launchers

Three Palestinian children were killed Wednesday after Israeli soldiers fired at figures they spotted near rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip.

Palestinian residents found the bodies of two boys in an area near where militants had fired rockets toward Israel. They said the boys died of shrapnel wounds.

A girl near them was critically injured by shrapnel and died in a hospital hours later, doctors said.

Residents said the three were cousins.

They were identified as Mahmoud Ghazal, 10; Sara Ghazal, also 10; and Yehiya Ghazal, 12, Palestinian officials said.

“We heard a blast, followed by children screaming,” said a relative, Wasfi Ghazal. “We rushed over and found the children bleeding.”

Witnesses confirmed that there were rocket launchers in the area.

The Israel Defense Forces “targeted several launchers aimed at Israel in the Beit Hanoun industrial area,” the army said in a statement. “Several Palestinians were identified handling the launchers at the time.”

An army spokeswoman declined to say what weapons the soldiers had used.

More than 90 rockets fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza in the last month landed in Israel, she said.

The area that was hit in Gaza is populated by civilians and is frequently used by Palestinian militants to launch rockets into southern Israel.