JEBALIYA, Gaza Strip (AP) - A pickup truck filled with masked militants and homemade rockets blew up in the middle of a Hamas rally, causing mass panic and killing 15 Palestinians and wounding 80 others.
The blast, apparently caused by the mishandling of explosives, brought a terrified end to one of the last victory rallies by armed militants celebrating Israel's Gaza pullout before an agreement not to publicly parade weapons is to take effect Saturday night.
Israel, which denied any involvement in the blast, launched air strikes early Saturday on what the army called Hamas weapons facilities. Three people were lightly injured in the strikes, the first such attacks since Israel's pullout.
"There was smoke all over, and then we saw people in pieces, but we couldn't make out what really happened," said Hazem Abu Rashad, 18.
Witnesses said many children were among the dead and wounded. Hamas said six of its militants were among those killed, including Jihad Shaleal, the head of the military wing in Jebaliya.
Hamas blamed the blast on Israel, but the Israeli military denied any connection and Palestinian security officials said it was an accident.
After Israel pulled out of Gaza last week, militant groups held a string of rallies throughout the coastal strip, with masked militants parading with rockets, grenades and rifles. The celebrations lauded the militants as the driving force behind Israel's withdrawal.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who has been trying to combat the chaos and the public display of arms in Gaza, wrested a pledge from the militant groups to stop holding military-style parades with weapons after Saturday.
"There is absolutely no excuse to parade weapons in the streets," Palestinian National Security Adviser Jibril Rajoub said Friday. "The (militant groups) are merely trying to express their power and their capabilities. I would hope Palestinian society will soon be rid of all of these images."
The central committee of the ruling Fatah party called on Hamas to stop holding military parades in residential areas and cancelled its own military parade scheduled for Saturday out of respect for the victims, according to a Fatah statement.
The blast Friday brought a rapid end to the chaotic celebration by thousands of Palestinians in the Jebaliya refugee camp, which had been the scene of harsh fighting between militants and Israeli soldiers during the past five years of violence.
Abu Rashad, who was just metres from the explosion, said three militants with two homemade rockets were in the truck's bed. Three or four other militants, who are extremely popular with children, rode inside as teenagers thronged the vehicle, he said.
The blast sent a huge plume of smoke into the air. After initial confusion, people began running away and gunmen fired shots in the air.
Men carried bloody body parts and lifeless bodies wrapped in blankets to nearby cars. At Shifa Hospital in Gaza, doctors had to treat patients on the floor of the emergency room because they ran out of beds. Masked Hamas men wheeled in casualties, including children.
One man, who only gave his first name, Hussam, said he helped pull three men out of the pickup, two of them dead and one who was still alive, but had a leg severed. He said he saw five dead children nearby. However, it was difficult to count torn up bodies.
Palestinian hospital officials said 15 people were killed and 80 others injured. Dozens of children were wounded in the blast, health officials said.
Hamas immediately blamed Israel for the explosion, saying an Israeli aircraft targeted the militants with a missile. "We will avenge the blood of our martyrs," said Nizar Rayan, a Hamas leader.
The Israeli military denied involvement and Palestinian officials said the explosion was set off by the mishandling of explosives. The pickup truck was not badly damaged in the blast.
The Palestinian Interior Ministry issued a statement calling on Hamas "to shoulder its responsibility for these ... explosions instead of making accusations against others."
If an accident, the explosion would be only the latest in a string of deadly mishaps.
Six people were killed earlier this month in Gaza City when a Hamas weapons warehouse exploded. Hamas claimed it was an Israeli attack, but an investigation by Palestinian security officials said the blast was an accident caused by the militants.
During an Islamic Jihad rally at the abandoned settlement of Netzarim last week, a gunman died after accidentally shooting himself in the head.
After the blast Friday, seven or eight gunmen stood in the back of another pickup truck as it drove through the streets of Gaza, using their feet to stop a half dozen rockets from bouncing around in the bed.
Finally some good news! or Hamas gets OWNED!
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x1000 you make it sound like they have taken a loss, they have taken a great victory. all those killed are now regarded as martyrs...im sure Hamas's memebers list has grown significantly after this...and dude, take you sadistic mind somewhere else plz..
