GAZA CITY
Five people, including two bomb disposal experts and one foreign journalist, were killed on Wednesday – and six others injured – when an unexploded rocket left in the northern Gaza Strip by the Israeli army blew up.
"Some of those injured are in critical condition," Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qodra told Anadolu Agency.
Gaza police spokesman Ayman al-Batniji, for his part, said the victims included two of Gaza's most skillful bomb-disposal experts – who had gone to the site to defuse unexploded Israeli ordnance – and an Italian journalist.
A Palestinian photojournalist, he added, was also injured by the blast.
According to al-Batniji, Gazan bomb-disposal experts are often deployed to disarm unexploded Israeli war ordnance.
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators are currently engaged in indirect talks in Egyptian capital Cairo with a view to hammering out a permanent ceasefire deal.
Talks, however, have so far failed to bear fruit.
The negotiations come hard on the heels of a devastating weeks-long Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip that has left 1951 Palestinians dead – the vast majority of them civilians – and more than 10,000 injured.
By Ola Attalah
www.aa.com.tr/en
