Israel on Wednesday denied any involvement in the assassination of the general coordinator of Palestine's television and radio, Hisham Mohammed Makki in Gaza, reported Haaretz newspaper.
A statement issued by Israel's military forces said that "the
security forces had no connection with this incident."
Israeli sources told the daily that "despite incitement broadcast by the Palestinian media, Israel would not risk assassinating a journalist with no direct connection to acts of violence."
A statement by the Palestinian leadership, quoted by the state-run TV, said Wednesday that Makki was assassinated by "collaborators and criminal traitors."
Makki, 54, was waiting for colleagues to join him when masked men, their number varied, approached his table, and shot him several times in the head and chest while he was walking out of Gaza City's Beach Hotel.
Witnesses told Haaretz that the guns were fitted with silencers. Palestinian police immediately closed off the area, and began to search for the killers.
The media chief has headed the PA's broadcasting authority since it was established in 1994, said the paper -- Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
