Hamas to blame for Gaza explosion....

Eight homes destroyed and 50 people injured...

A mysterious explosion that obliterated eight Gazan homes, damaged another 30 and wounded over 50 people on Monday originated in a house used by Hamas to manufacture weapons, The Media Line has learned.

The Deir el-Balah refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip was rocked Monday by an explosion centered in an uninhabited house belonging to Alaa al-Danaf, a field commander of Izzadin Kassam, the military wing of Hamas.

Izzadin Kassam blamed the explosion on Israel, claiming it was an assassination attempt on their field commanders.

But speaking on the condition of anonymity, camp residents told The Media Line that Hamas was using the house to store weapons. Neighbors said that in the past they had appealed to Hamas to cease their activities in the camp, but were quickly silenced.

The testimony confirms the IDF’s denial of any Israeli involvement in the explosion.

An IDF representative told The Media Line that the Israel Air Force was not active in Deir el- Balah at the time.

“Usually when such explosions occur the armed groups in Gaza announce it’s Israel’s fault,” Hamdi Shaqqura, deputy director for program affairs at the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights, told The Media Line.

“But our investigations often find that this is not the case.”

Shaqqura said armed groups try to hide the existence of bombs in residential areas, because local residents “would not agree to live on a barrel of explosives.