The Palestinian group Hamas denied on Wednesday any responsibility for an explosion that hit an Israeli armoured vehicle in Rafah in southern Gaza, calling for pressure on Israel to abide by a ceasefire deal in the enclave.
The Israeli military said that an officer was injured in a bomb blast in Rafah, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blaming Hamas for the explosion.
Hamas said the blast took place in a zone fully controlled by the Israeli army, “where no Palestinian is present or working.”
“We have previously warned about the war remnants in this area and others,” the group said in a statement.
“We bear no responsibility for this area since the implementation of the (ceasefire) agreement, especially those remnants had been planted by the occupation itself,” it added.
Hamas called for obliging Israel to implement the ceasefire deal and “avoid fabricating excuses to continue escalation and sabotage the agreement,” affirming its commitment to the truce.
Senior Hamas member Mahmoud Mardawi also said in a post on X that he believes the Rafah explosion was caused by war remnants.
The blast “occurred in an area controlled by the (Israeli) occupation where no Palestinian can be present,” he added.
Palestinians have accused Israel of repeatedly violating the ceasefire agreement, which halted a two-year Israeli war that has killed more than 71,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 others since October 2023.
According to the Gaza government media office, at least 411 Palestinians have been killed and 1,112 others injured in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire.
