Hamas commander said killed in Gaza explosion

Group gives no info on circumstances of blast in Rafah, which may have been an operational accident

By ToI Staff 8 June 2017, 1:01 am

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A file picture taken on January 29, 2015, shows Palestinian youth showing their skills during a graduation ceremony as part of a training camp run by the Hamas movement in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. (AFP photo/Said Khatib)

A Hamas field commander was killed Wednesday night and two other operatives injured in a blast in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, officials in the Hamas-controlled Strip said.

The circumstances of the explosion were note made clear, but may have been an accident during one of the terror group’s operations.

Several Hamas operatives have been killed and injured in accidental blasts and tunnel collapses in recent months.

Hamas is engaged in training its fighters, building rockets and digging tunnels in preparation for another round of conflict with Israel. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.

Gaza terrorists have dug dozens of tunnels, many reaching under the border into Israel, to launch attacks inside the Jewish state. While Israel destroyed many of them during the summer 2014 war, it says Hamas has since been rebuilding the network, and Hamas has bragged about doing so.

Last year, 22 members of Hamas’s armed wing were killed while “preparing equipment,” the majority in a string of tunnel collapses, the terror group said.

Dov Lieber contributed to this report.