Explosion kills Hamas man in Gaza
Palestinians say Hamas member Muhammad al-Arir killed by IDF fire in Gaza. Israel denies carrying out attack, says explosion was internal incident
An explosion in the Gaza Strip killed a member of the Hamas Islamist group on Thursday, hospital staff and witnesses said.
Palestinian sources reported that Muhammad al-Arir was killed from IDF fire near the Sajiya neighborhood east of Gaza City.
According to the sources, al-Arir was killed from an Israeli tank shelling and was transferred to Shifa Hospital.
An Israeli army spokesman said Israel was not involved in the blast and had not carried out any attacks in the area.
Israeli sources believe al-Arir was killed in an internal incident.
On Saturday Palestinians reported a gunman was killed in an IDF aerial attack in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, and another gunman was critically wounded.
The IDF Spokesperson's Office said the army did not attack, and officials believe the explosion was another Hamas 'work accident'.
Gunmen from Gaza have fired dozens of rockets at Israel in the past two weeks after Israel launched raids that killed about a dozen gunmen, and closed crossing points with Gaza, choking off some food supplies to the coastal territory.
Reuters contributed to this report
