2 Gaza police killed in explosion setting off claims of new ‘Israeli drone strike’

At least two Palestinians were killed and several more reported injured after a motorcycle explosion in Gaza City that local media blamed on an Israeli air or drone strike.

The Gaza Interior Ministry said that two police officers were killed in an explosion near a checkpoint at the Al-Dahdouh junction, south of Gaza City.

An explosion appears to have targeted a motorcycle in Tal al-Hawa, a southern part of the Gaza territory on Tuesday evening.

The two men who died were identified by the authorities as police officers Salameh Majed Nadim and Alaa Zyad Gharabli, both 32. The cause of the blast is being investigated.

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) denied carrying out the attack. The IDF had struck Gaza several hours earlier, saying it was retaliation for a mortar attack by Hamas.

An IDF spokesman told reporters that Israel had nothing to do with the explosion, speculating it might have been a "work accident."

Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, is the government in Gaza, but has been designated a terrorist organization by Israel.

Local media have blamed an Israeli airstrike or drone strike for the explosion. Initial reports said the two men killed were members of Islamic Jihad, spurring speculation of a targeted assassination. However, the group called that "fake news," just before Gaza authorities revealed that the two men killed were police officers.

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