On the Hamas website, one of the moderator’s has posted that Hamas plans on holding a “state funeral” for murdered anti-Israel activist Vittorio Arrigoni (without the state, of course) and that they had arrested four people in connection with the murder.
Al Qassam website – Gaza City – Palestinian Government in Gaza are to hold a “state funeral” for a murdered Italian activist, government said on Sunday, adding it was close to arresting all those involved in his death.
Gaza Government cabinet minister Mohammed Awad told reporters that slain activist Vittorio Arrigoni’s body would be moved to Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on Monday after a funeral in Gaza.
“We’re waiting for his friends and relatives to arrive in Gaza. Some are already here but there are others we are waiting for, and then there will be a state funeral,” Awad said.
“We expect afterwards that his body will be taken to the Rafah crossing and then on to Cairo, according to the wishes of his family.”
Arrigoni was found hanged in an abandoned house in the north of the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, hours after he was kidnapped by a fringe, militant Salafist group.
Gaza Security forces have arrested four people in connection with his murder, but Awad said some suspects remained at large in the coastal strip.
“Some suspects have been arrested but there are still some people with ties to the operation in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Awad said that the government expected to arrest all those linked to the killing “shortly” and that security forces had set up roadblocks to ensure those tied to Arrigoni’s death could not slip out of Gaza.
Arrigoni, 36, was a long-time member of the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian organisation, and had been living and working in the Gaza Strip for much of the past three years.
His kidnapping marked the first of a foreigner in the Gaza Strip since the 2007 kidnap of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who was released unharmed.
The government has vowed to bring Arrigoni’s killers to justice, and Awad said on Sunday that the group planned to rename a street in Gaza City in the activist’s honour.
In contrast, the JPost reports the arrest of one suspect (from the radical Salafi group known as Tawheed and Jihad that claimed responsibility for Arrigoni’s murder), with 2 others dying in the ensuing fire fight.
Interestingly enough, the very same Hamas moderator posted this cartoon:
In other words, they’re claiming they’ve arrested radical Islamists in connection with the murder, yet are still blaming Israel.
For a people who claim they are starving, they sure like to have their cake and eat it.
