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by IMEMC News

Tuesday April 30 2013, Palestinian medical sources reported that a Palestinian man was assassinated by an Israeli missile northwest of Gaza city; two Palestinians have been injured in the attack.

The sources said that the army fired one missile at a motorcycle driven by Haitham Mas-hal, 29, leading to instant death while two residents were injured, and were moved to the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.

Mas-hal is from the Ash-Shaty’ refugee camp; he worked as guard at the Ash-Shifa medical center.

Both of his legs were severed due to the blast; he also suffered various injuries that led to his death.

The attack was carried out shortly before a number of armored military vehicles invaded the Ash-Shujaeyya neighborhood, east of Gaza city.

The Shura Al-Mujaheddin Salafist group in Gaza, issued a press release stating that the fighter is one of its leaders.

Commenting on the assassination, an Israeli military official stated that Mas-hal is a prominent fighter who is allegedly responsible for firing dozens of shells into Israel, including missiles that were recently fired into Eilat.

Israeli Yedioth Aharonoth reported that the army obtained sensitive information about the activities of Mas-hal, and that he was near a Hamas-run training camp when he was targeted.

Meanwhile, the Middle East newspaper, based in London, reported that Hamas fighters have been deployed on border areas in Gaza in an attempt to prevent Palestinian armed groups from firing shells into Israel.

The Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza removed its security forces and police from all border areas, and replaced them with fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, in an attempt to prevent armed groups from firing shells into adjacent Israeli areas.

The move was seen as an attempt to prevent further military escalation with Israel at the current stage.