Mysterious blast kills four in Gaza
A mysterious blast after nightfall tonight levelled a building in Gaza City, killing four people and wounding at least 30, residents and hospital officials said.
Hamas blamed Israel, but the Israeli military said it was not involved.
The blast came hours after Palestinian security forces got their first look at demolished Gaza settlements, touring the area ahead of Israel’s formal handover in mid-September.
The joint tour by Palestinian commanders and Israeli military officials marked the first time Palestinian officials were allowed into the settlements, which were evacuated two weeks ago.
The blast in the Gaza City neighbourhood of Shajaiyeh destroyed a house where known Hamas members lived.
Hamas charged that an Israeli missile hit the house. Hamas spokesman Munir al-Masri charged that Israel is continuing its “dirty assassination policy, which gives us the right to respond and to defend ourselves.”
The Israeli military said it had nothing to do with the blast. Some residents said it was apparently a case of explosives in the house detonating prematurely as Hamas militants worked on a bomb.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called the explosion ”regrettable” and said “security is investigating the cause.”
Israeli aircraft have often raided the neighbourhood, targeting Palestinian militants, but the raids have all but stopped since a cease-fire went into effect in February.
Also today, an Israeli official said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is planning to visit in November, another diplomatic dividend from Israel’s Gaza pullout. However, Mubarak’s spokesman said he had no such plans.
Palestinians are not happy with Israel’s recent successes in courting the Muslim nations and have urged them to freeze ties with Israel until a final peace deal is reached.
Mubarak will travel to Israel in November to attend a service marking 10 years since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to make a formal announcement.
However, Mubarak’s spokesman Suleiman Awad said: “I can assure you that the president doesn’t have any plans to go anywhere outside Egypt until the end of this year,” adding, “He is quite busy with so many things, the presidential and legislative elections, and doesn’t have any plans to go anywhere outside Egypt.”
The Egyptian leader has not visited Israel since Rabin’s funeral in 1995, and Israeli officials interpreted his planned visit as sending a message to other Arab and Muslim countries that Israel should be rewarded for evacuating 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank.
Jordan’s King Abdullah is also planning to visit Israel, Israeli government officials have said, but Jordanian officials have not confirmed that.
Israel is now trying to revive low-level ties with other Muslim nations that languished during more than four years of Israel-Palestinian conflict, and it’s also trying to establish new ones.
Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian negotiator, said Israel must first make peace with the Palestinians if it wants full relations with the Arab and Muslim world.
“Once we make peace, once the occupation is over, once there is a Palestinian state, (Israel) will have full normal relations,” Erekat said.
Israel made progress last week when Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom met publicly for the first time with his Pakistani counterpart, Khursheed Kasuri. However, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said there would be no full relations with Israel until a Palestinian state is established.
A five-member Israeli delegation is currently in Tunisia planning Shalom’s November visit to participate in a UN conference, Regev said.
The trip to Tunisia has special significance for Shalom, who was born there in 1958. He immigrated to Israel when he was a year old and has never been back.
Also today, dozens of unemployed workers in the Palestinian town of Khan Younis demonstrated outside a municipal building, demanding jobs and better living conditions.
For a second straight day, the protest escalated into a violent clash with security forces. Protesters pelted riot police with stones and firebombs, and police fired wildly into the air in an attempt to control the crowd.
The Palestinian Interior Ministry said seven officers and three civilians were wounded.
