GAZA, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Hamas, ruler of the Gaza Strip, condemned on Wednesday the killing of three Palestinian teenagers by Israeli army.
Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said in an emailed press statement that the killing of the Palestinians "is an awful crime that is strongly condemned."
"While the occupier (Israel) is receiving world leaders for the memory of the Holocaust, Israeli tanks murdered three young men on Gaza border in a cold blood," said Barhoum.
The Palestinian teenagers, aged between 17 and 18, infiltrated into Israel through the borders between eastern Gaza and Israel on Tuesday night, Israeli and Palestinian sources said earlier in the day.
Reports were conflicting over the death of the three teenagers identified as Mohammad Abu Mandil, Salem al-Naami and Mahmoud Saeed.
An Israeli army spokesman said in a statement that the three were armed and attacked an Israeli force near the borders with eastern Gaza.
However, a Palestinian security source said they were not armed.
The security source in Gaza told Xinhua that Israeli soldiers stopped the three teenagers, asked them to take off their clothes and then killed them.
The Israeli army refused to hand over the corpses of the three teenagers to their families, the source said on condition of anonymity. Enditem
