ISRAEL/PALESTINE: Explosion in Gaza destroys home of a Hamas commander, killing 5
Posted by warvictims on June 13, 2008
Explosion in Gaza destroys home of a Hamas commander, killing 5
By Isabel Kershner and Taghreed El-Khodary
Thursday, June 12, 2008
JERUSALEM: A large explosion in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya destroyed a residential building Thursday, killing a baby girl and four Palestinian men known locally to be Hamas militants.
Hamas, the Islamic group that controls Gaza, initially blamed an Israeli airstrike for the blast. It then unleashed a hail of rockets and mortar rounds at Israeli towns and villages around the periphery of Gaza.
But the Israeli military vehemently denied any involvement in the explosion, saying that it had not been active in the area at the time.
A spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, later said that the group would open an investigation, a tacit acknowledgment that the blast may have been caused by explosives being handled inside the building.
In a speech Thursday evening marking the first anniversary of Hamas’s takeover of Gaza, Ismail Haniya, the head of the group in Gaza, made no mention of the Beit Lahiya incident, strengthening suspicion among Israelis that the explosion had been an internal affair.
The chain of events underscored a volatile situation one day after Israel’s security cabinet voted to pursue efforts for an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire with Palestinian groups in Gaza.
Muawiya Hassanein, director of emergency medical services in Gaza, identified those killed by the explosion, as Hassan Abu Shaqfa, Ashraf Mushtaha, Muhammad Maqdad and Ataya Hamouda, all men in their 20s; and Nur Hamouda, a four-month-old girl.
Abu Shaqfa was known to be a local field commander for the Qassam Brigades, and the other three men were also thought to be members of the group.
Immediately after the blast, which occurred at about 1 p.m., a Hamas official, Mushir al-Masri, told the group’s Al Aksa television that “the enemy” – meaning Israel – “must pay the price,” adding: “We will not remain passive after this horrible crime.”
Over the next couple of hours, Palestinian militants fired at least 18 Qassam rockets, 3 longer-range Katyusha-type rockets and 22 mortar shells at southern Israel, an Israeli Army spokesman said.
Although residents took cover, one woman in a communal farm just north of the coastal territory was lightly wounded. Meanwhile, one Palestinian was wounded by a rocket or mortar shell that fell near the Erez border crossing, the military spokesman said.
Earlier Thursday, Israel had dispatched a senior Israeli Defense Ministry official to Cairo to try to further efforts there for a cease-fire. In his speech Thursday, Haniya also spoke in favor of a truce.
But calm is still far from guaranteed. The Israeli Army has been instructed to prepare for a Gaza offensive in case the Egyptian talks fail. Even if talks were to succeed, there has been mention on both sides of a possible escalation before a truce comes into effect, or of an early breakdown.
Taghreed El-Khodary reported from Gaza.
