Explosion kills one Palestinian, injures eight in northern Gaza

An explosion in the northern Gaza Strip killed one Palestinian and injured eight others — two of them seriously — on Wednesday afternoon, just after they fired a makeshift rocket at Israel, Palestinian officials and medics said.

Witnesses said the blast may have been caused by a malfunction in the rocket, but officials from Gaza’s ruling Hamas organization later said the explosion was caused by Israeli artillery.

An Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv said he could not corroborate Hamas’ statements.

The group of men reportedly belonged to the radical Islamic Jihad organization.