Blast injures 20, destroys several homes in Gaza

GAZA CITY: More than 20 people were injured and several homes destroyed by a large explosion on Saturday in a residential area of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.

The source of the accidental explosion was apparently the home of a member of one of Gaza’s armed groups.

“An explosion occurred in a house in Beit Hanoun this morning, resulting in a number of injuries,” the interior ministry said, adding that an investigation had been launched into the cause of the blast.

Medical sources said more than 20 people were injured, two of them seriously.

Witnesses said several homes were damaged as a result of the explosion in the home of an “activist.” Police cordoned off the area.

There was no immediate official explanation of the explosion, but the Israeli military said it was the result of militants “storing weapons in residential homes.”

Houses “have been turned into warehouses for weapons and missiles for terrorist organisations, and those who pay the price in the end are innocent civilians,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said on Twiter.

Hamas seized control of Gaza from rival Palestinian movement Fatah in a near civil war in 2007.

Since then, Hamas has fought three devastating wars with Israel, which has maintained a crippling blockade on the territory of some two million people.

On Tuesday, Antony Blinken, nominee for secretary of state, said President Joe Biden will not reverse Donald Trump’s landmark recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but will seek a state for the Palestinians.

Asked at his confirmation hearing by Senator Ted Cruz if the United States will continue its stance on Jerusalem and maintain its embassy, Blinken said without hesitation, “Yes and yes.”

Blinken indicated that Biden would try harder to pursue a separate Palestinian state but acknowledged the difficulties.

“The only way to ensure Israel’s future as a Jewish, democratic state and to give the Palestinians a state to which they are entitled is through the so-called two-state solution,” Blinken said.

But he added: “I think realistically it’s hard to see near-term prospects for moving forward on that.”

“What would be important is to make sure that neither party takes steps that make the already difficult process even more challenging,” he said.

Shortly ater his remarks, a watchdog said that Israel had issued tenders for 2,500 new setler homes.