A 12-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and three other civilians were injured early Sunday in a fresh Israeli airstrike on the eastern neighborhood of Rafah town in southern Gaza Strip, medics and witnesses reported.

Eyewitnesses said that an Israeli army aircraft fired one air- to-ground missile at a group of Palestinian civilians, who were sitting near one of the houses in al-Jneina neighborhood in the town.

A huge explosion was heard in the neighborhood, and dozens of residents rushed to the scene and saw the boy's body on the ground, said the witnesses, adding three other people were screaming and bleeding.

Palestinian medics confirmed that Ibrahim Zagheidi, 12, was killed and three other civilians were injured by the shrapnel of Israeli aircraft missile that was fired directly at them.

Security sources said that Israeli army bulldozers backed by tanks and armored vehicles razed fruitful trees and one-floor houses in an area near the Rafah Crossing between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt.

The Israeli army has been carrying out a ground operation backed by aircraft since predawn Thursday. According to Palestinian medics, 17 Palestinians were killed, including 5 children, the youngest was three days old in Rafah.

Source: Xinhua