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…And those wicked Zionists — Never mind
Israel should be a good neighbor send the rockets back, in just the way they were sent into Israel. “Gaza house blast kills 7; Hamas hints at accident,” by Ibrahim Barzak for Associated Press, June 12 (thanks to all who sent this in):
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip – An explosion flattened a house in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing seven people. After blaming Israel and unleashing a barrage of rockets and mortars, Hamas suggested the blast was accidental, not an Israeli attack.
By then Israel had carried out an airstrike aimed at a Gaza rocket squad, killing a Palestinian.
The violence threatened to scuttle Egyptian cease-fire efforts as they approached the finish line. A key Israeli envoy, Amos Gilad, was in Egypt trying to wrap up a deal, but there was no announcement of results.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the military was not operating in the area of the house at the time of the blast.
“We deny any connection to this incident,” Maj. Avital Leibovich said.
Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said there would be an investigation of the blast and the results would be made public.
The statement was taken as a Hamas acknowledgment that the blast was probably accidental, not an Israeli attack. Dozens of militants have been killed while handing explosives in recent years.
The blast shook the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, about a mile from the Israeli border.
Ambulances rushed to the scene, and residents of nearby homes brought shovels and bulldozers to help dig people out. Three people covered in blood were carried out on stretchers and hurried into ambulances that sped them away to a hospital.
Hamas said seven people were killed, including a 4-month-old girl and a senior aide to the Hamas interior minister. Several bodies were removed from the rubble. Among the dead were five militants, Hamas said.
Probably it was another one of those premature detonations.