Israel Killed Yasser Arafat, Says Palestinian Inquiry

Hamas fired a rocket from the northern Gaza Strip into the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday, in what Israel believes was likely a test of the group’s rocket systems rather than an attempt to hit Israeli territory.

“We affirm to our people that the national committee to probe the death circumstances of our symbolic leader Yasser Arafat has come a long way”, said Abbas in a televised recorded message aired on Palestine TV on Wednesday.

During last year’s devastating Israeli onslaught against the territory, the Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas (which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007), used underground tunnels to attack Israeli military bases and communities near the border.

Arafat fell ill in 2004 and was flown to France, where he died in a hospital.

In the past, Hamas has prevented Fatah from holding commemorative events in Gaza marking Arafat’s mysterious death aged 75, at a hospital near Paris on November 11, 2004.

Meanwhile, member of Fatah’s revolutionary council Faisal Abu Shahla told Xinhua that it is an emotional moment to be able to enter Arafat’s house after all these years. Israel denied such claims in 2012 when it was reported that Arafat might have been poisoned.

The house, located near a security compound under Hamas’ control, is full of Arafat artifacts.

The house included pictures of the late leader, his military uniform, his private weapon, furniture and other belongings.

This is not the first time Israel has been accused of killing Arafat. Zakaria Al-Agha, the top Fatah official in Gaza, said “this house is the mother and father’s home for us and we hope that Hamas follows this step with more steps to end the division”.