Palestinian medical sources on Friday evening confirmed that scores of Palestinians were killed and wounded when an explosion ripped through a military parade of Hamas. Hamas' military wing, Ezzeddin Al Qassam Brigades, was holding a rally for its fighters, attended by leaders of the movement, in the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabaliya, when a large explosion went off, killing at least 19 Palestinians and wounding others.
Moaweya Abu Hasanein, director of emergency at the Palestinian ministry of health, said that more than 85 people were injured. He said among the wounded were about 15 children.
Sources in Hamas movement claimed that the blast resulted from rockets fired by an unmanned Israeli drone, RNA reported.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a prominent Hamas spokesman in Gaza, asserted that the Israeli drone targeted a car full of rockets, while hundreds of civilians were watching the military parade. "This is a massacre, a real carnage, and we will avenge it," said Abu Zuhri.
Abu Zuhri denied statements by some PA officials saying that the bombing was an accident and not caused by an Israeli attack. "I saw the missiles with my two own eyes, and thousands of people saw these missiles coming. How could some PA officials deny the obvious and acquit the Zionist enemy of the crime."
A PA official, Abu Ali Shaheen, said he believed the bombing was an accident resulting from a collusion between two vehicles carrying explosives. In addition, the Palestinian interior ministry's spokesman, Tawfiq Abu Khousa, told Al Jazeera satellite channel that the explosion resulted from a car filled with makeshift explosives that was detonated in the parade.
Israeli military officials have denied any involvement in the incident.
Later, a senior leader of Hamas asserted that the Israeli army was responsible for the explosion.
Nizar Rayyan showed in a press conference held in Gaza, what he referred to as an electronic device found in one of the dead bodies, arguing this piece was part of the rockets launched by Israel.
Rayyan also confirmed that all the weapons and makeshift rockets used during the military rally were fake, and that no explosives were used. “Our enemy’s denial doesn’t hide the truth. Our criminal enemy is responsible for the death of our children and our Mujaheddin [holy fighters] in Jabaliya,” the Hamas leader said.
Rayyan conveyed that he and several other leaders, who were attending the rally, saw unmanned drones hovering overhead moments before the blast.
Ahmad Al Ghandour, a local military leader of Hamas, said that until now three Hamas fighters were confirmed dead, asserting that the movement’s retaliation would be carried out in the right place and at the right time.
