Israeli air raids kill two Palestinian teens in Gaza

Aljazeera

Hamas says it launched rockets and mortars in response to Israeli wave of strikes, which also wounded 14 Palestinians.

At least two teenagers in the Gaza Strip have been killed by Israeli air raids, according toPalestinian health officials, as Israel carried out the largest daylight attack on the besieged enclave since the 2014 war.

Amir al-Nimri, 15, and Luay Kaheel, 16, died of their wounds on Saturday shortly after an air strike targeted al-Kutaiba, an area in western Gaza, the health ministry said.

Twelve others were wounded.

The al-Kutaiba square is adjacent to a park frequently visited by families over the weekend, especially during the summer months, witnesses told Al Jazeera. 

"That's why so many civilians have been hurt in the latest strike," Maram Humaid, a journalist in the Strip, said. 

In a Twitter post, the Israeli military confirmed it targeted a "high-rise building" and said it had "warned" residents to evacuate prior to the attack.

Witnesses told Al Jazeera that the two teenagers who lost their lives were playing on the roof of the semi-abandoned building and described a scene where "there was glass everywhere".

Two other people were wounded in earlier Israeli air raids, according to health officials in Gaza, raising the total figure of those hurt to 14.

Earlier in the day, it said it attacked several Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip, as dozens rockets and mortars were fired towards Israel from the besieged enclave. 

"The Israeli army says over 90 mortars and rockets have been fired over the last 24 hours, most of them causing no damage. Some rockets hit a synagogue, also a car and we understand four Israelis were lightly injured," said Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Jerusalem.

"This does show you how severe this escalation has been, certainly the most severe since 2014."

The exchange came hours after the Israeli army killed two Palestinians, including a teenage boy, and wounded hundreds at protests along the fence with Israel on Friday.

The Israeli army said its fighter jets targeted "complexes used to prepare arson terror attacks and a Hamas terror training facility". It also said it struck two Hamas tunnels, one in southern Gaza and one in the north, as well as other infrastructure across the besieged coastal territory.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group was responsible for the mortar fire on Israel and that they were carried out "in response to the Israeli air strikes".

"The protection and the defence of our people is a national duty and a strategic choice," Barhoum said.

Incendiary kites from Gaza that have burned large tracts of farmland in Israeli border areas have increased public pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a stronger armed response.