Explosion kills Hamas man in Gaza

GAZA (Reuters) - An explosion in the Gaza Strip killed a member of the Hamas Islamist group on Thursday, hospital staff and witnesses said.

Hamas later said one of its militants had been killed in a "Jihadist mission," a phrase used in the past to refer to an accidental explosion.

An Israeli army spokesman said Israel was not involved in the blast and had not carried out any attacks in the area.

Gunmen from Gaza have fired dozens of rockets at Israel in the past two weeks after Israel launched raids that killed about a dozen gunmen, and closed crossing points with Gaza, choking off some food supplies to the coastal territory.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; editing by Michael Roddy)