10 Palestinians killed in blast at Hamas rally in Gaza

An explosion at a militant Hamas rally killed at least 10 Palestinians, including children and gunmen, in the Gaza Strip on Friday in the fi...

An explosion at a militant Hamas rally killed at least 10 Palestinians, including children and gunmen, in the Gaza Strip on Friday in the first deadly incident in the territory since Israel completed its withdrawal.

Hamas accused Israel of attacking the procession of military vehicles. But the Israeli Army denied any involvement in the explosion, hours after Islamic Jihad militants fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for a deadly West Bank raid.

At least two children were among the dead in the explosion at the rally in the densely packed Jabalya refugee camp, a show of armed force by Hamas following Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.

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About 60 people were wounded and medics feared the death toll could rise. The blast turned one of the Hamas vehicles into a makeshift wreck. Some of the convoy had been carrying makeshift rockets.

The incident could stoke militant anger that was already boiling after Israeli troops killed three Islamic Jihad militants in a raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. Jihad fired rockets from Gaza into Israel in response, the first such attack since the withdrawal. It caused no casualties.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the West Bank raid, calling it a ‘‘very dangerous step’’.

Hours before the blast, Palestinian authorities took charge of a border crossing for the first time, processing thousands of travellers from Gaza into Egypt following Israel’s pullout.

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Israel had sealed the Rafah terminal, Gaza’s sole conduit to the outside world via Egypt, before completing its removal of forces.

—Reuters

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