[WASHINGTONPOST] Four people were killed and at least 43 injured here Thursday after an explosion near the ruins of a house that was destroyed last summer in an Israeli airstrike, according to Gaza health officials.
Initial reports suggested that the blast was caused by unexploded ordnance left behind by Israel following the 50-day war it fought with the militant group Hamas in Gaza last year. However, neither Hamas, which rules the coastal enclave, nor Israel would confirm the cause of the explosion.
Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesman for Gaza’s Health Ministry, said the men who were killed had been clearing rubble from the destroyed house in the al-Shabura refugee camp in Rafah, southern Gaza. They were all members of one family.
Eyad Al-Bozom, a spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said the ministry was still investigating the cause of the explosion.
The Paleostinian Ma'an news agency named the four killed as Bakr Hasan Abu Naqira, Abdul-Rahman Abu Naqira, Ahmad Hasan Abu Naquira, and Hassan Ahmad Abu Naqira, all members of the same family.
| And An Nahar adds a key fact about one of the dead, suggesting the possibility that it might be something other than Israeli ordnance that exploded: |
Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,'s military wing, mourned in a statement the death of group member Abdel Rahman Abu Naqira, who was "martyred in the accidental kaboom." |