Eurasia Press & News
GAZA (Reuters) – Bomb blasts rocked a cafe and a Hamas politician’s home in the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing at least one Palestinian in one of the biggest flare-ups in internal violence since Islamists seized the enclave a year ago.
Hamas blamed unidentified “gunmen” for the bombings, suggesting the involvement of a Palestinian faction.
An Israeli army spokesman said he was not aware of any Israeli activity.
The Hamas Islamist group took control of the Gaza Strip a year ago after routing more secular Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Gaza has been calm since an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took hold last month.
But the truce has stoked some tensions between Palestinian factions as Hamas has sought to prevent other groups from firing cross-border rockets at Israel.
Hamas has arrested some militants for violating the truce, which calls on Israel to halt its military operations and to ease its embargo on the coastal enclave.
Hamas security forces said the first bomb went off outside a popular cafe in the centre of Gaza City, killing a passer-by whose identity was not immediately known.
A few minutes later, a second bomb exploded outside the house of Hamas politician and leader Marwan Abu Rass. Nobody was injured in that blast.
