Report: 2 dead in motorcycle blast in Gaza
Palestinian media blames Israel, IDF rejects connection to blast; Egypt threatens Hamas it will stop mediating between terror group and Israel if rocket launches continue
Two people were killed and a third wounded when a motorcycle exploded while travelling through the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The spokesman for the IDF, which during past rounds of Gaza fighting has targeted Palestinian fighters' vehicles with air strikes, said he had no knowledge of Israeli military involvement in the incident.
The attack took place in a neighborhood south-west of Gaza City.
According to the Gaza Strip's Interior Ministry, the two casualties were policemen: Majad Nadim, 32, and Ala Ziad Al-Grabali, 32. The ministry added that two other men and one woman were injured in the blast.
Witnesses said the motorbike, carrying two people, exploded while passing a police checkpoint. It was not immediately clear whether the riders were among the casualties, which witnesses said included at least one passerby.
Palestinian militants sometimes die in what their organisations deem "work accidents", or the premature detonation of explosives.
Earlier Tuesday, Egypt threatened Hamas that it would stop acting as a mediating factor between the terror group and Israel if Hamas continues to launch rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel, said a report in the Egyptian Al Arabiya network.
The report said that Egyptian officials were furious about Hamas launching rockets into Israel while Hamas representatives were visiting Cairo, and said that some forces in the Strip are hoping to damage the arrangement agreement with Israel.
Cairo has reportedly demanded that Hamas respects the arrangement agreement and warned the organization from fighting Israel as a service to Iran and Hezbollah.
Earlier Tuesday, the IDF detected rocket launches from the Gaza Strip towards Israel and retaliated with an attack on a Hamas target in the Strip's center.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said that three rockets fell inside the Strip, while one landed in open fields inside the Israeli border.
The IDF said in statement that it bombed a Hamas observation post
in the central Gaza Strip in retaliation for the rocket fire.
On Monday, the IDF struck two Hamas positions in Gaza, including an office belonging to a high-profile commander in the terror group’s military wing, in response to rockets being fired at southern Israel during a mass event.
