Gaza protests a cover for terrorism. Illustrative photo of Palestinian event. By Joshua Spurlock
The alleged photojournalist who was killed in the Gaza border protests last week was in fact a Hamas terrorist, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday, the same day an explosive device went off near the Israel-Gaza security fence highlighted the threat posed by the Hamas-led Gaza riots. Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Ofir Gendelman cited Lieberman in a Twitter post saying that the photojournalist, Yasser Murjata, was “a terrorist with a prior association” with the Hamas military wing.
Tweeted Gendelman, “He held the rank of captain & was paid regularly by Hamas since 2011. He used to fly drones to collect intel on IDF forces at the front.” Murjata was killed last Friday, and The Jerusalem Post—citing Israeli defense officials comments in a report from the Israeli Walla! news group—said a number of senior Hamas officials attended his funeral. The unnamed Israeli officials said he was still active in Hamas and beneficial to them.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, an explosive devise planted near the security fence “under the guise of the riots” was set off against an IDF engineering vehicle, tweeted the IDF Spokesperson. The tweet added that there were no reported injuries in the blast.
In response, Israel struck multiple Hamas targets in Gaza, according to Twitter posts from the IDF Spokesperson. “The Hamas terror organization is accountable for all occurrences originating from the Gaza Strip and the IDF will not allow Hamas to turn the security fence parameter into a combat zone,” tweeted the IDF Spokesperson.
Gendelman, in his own tweet on the explosion, noted, “That’s why we don’t allow Palestinian rioters to come near the border fence.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, April 11, 2018)