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Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Work accident! But you wouldn't know it from Arab media... (plus - clan clash)

Ma'an "reports:"
Man killed by Israeli strike east of Gaza City

A man was killed on Wednesday in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli strike targeted the al-Shujaiyeh neighborhood in Gaza City, medical sources said.

Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma'an that the "remaining body parts" of 32-year-old Muhammad Salamah al-Ijah were taken to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

Al-Ijah was killed by an Israeli drone strike, al-Qidra said, although earlier reports said that Israeli tanks had fired into Gaza.

Locals said al-Ijah was affiliated with Islamic Jihad.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said there were "no strikes" in Gaza.

Islamic Jihad media says it was an artillery shell.

Ma'an Arabic says it was a shelling and doesn't mention Israel's denial.

Hamas media, hedging its bets, says that al-Ijah was killed by shells, machine gun fire and that there were Israeli aircraft in the area at the time.

AFP says:
The Israeli military denied carrying out any strike on Gaza and said its troops had not been involved in any other shooting incidents.

"We did not strike in Gaza today and we are unaware of any incident involving tanks or other shooting," a spokeswoman told AFP.
Israel never denies attacks on terrorists in Gaza, and the dead man is very much a terrorist - and a senior member of Islamic Jihad as well.

A hint as to what happened comes from Islamic Jihad itself, which says he was killed while performing his Jihadist duty.

Clearly, al-Ijah blew himself up.

It will be most interesting to see how PCHR and OCHA describe this incident in their weekly reports.

At the same time, two others were killed in Gaza - a nine year old boy and a 20-year old woman - in a dispute between two families.  Sometimes these reports are covers for honor killings, but this one seems to be a real clan clash. There are many of these in Gaza and easy access to guns means that they often turn fatal.

(h/t PTWatch)