Child killed by leftover ordnance in Gaza Strip

A young boy was killed in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday when he touched unexploded ordnance left over from the summer conflict with Israel, a Palestinian official said.

Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said Muhammad Sami Abu Jrad, 4, from the Beit Hanoun neighborhood of Gaza City, was severely injured in the blast and taken to al-Shifra hospital, according to a report from the Ma’an news agency.

Doctors were unable to save his life.

Palestinian sources said that the munition was Israeli and that Jrad is the tenth person to die in such incidents since the end of this summer’s conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Although Gaza police sappers have been working to clear away unexploded ordnance scattered over wide areas of Gaza, six people were killed in August and another three in September by munitions, the report said.

In August, Associated Press video journalist Simone Camilli and a freelance Palestinian translator assisting him were killed in an ordnance explosion while working on an assignment about the aftermath of the recent war in the Gaza Strip.

Israel fought a 50-day Operation Protective Edge against Hamas during July and August that included intensive airstrikes and a ground incursion into the coastal enclave, where forces encountered booby-traps left by Hamas. The two sides agreed to a temporary ceasefire on August 26 with follow-up talks for a more permanent agreement.