Israel admits killing Palestinian carrying bicycle, not ‘rocket launcher’

The Israeli occupation army has admitted that the Palestinian man it killed for allegedly carrying a “rocket launcher” was actually carrying a bicycle, Anadolu has reported.

The army published footage on Sunday of a drone-missile attack on two men walking among the rubble in the Zeitoun neighbourhood in the northern Gaza Strip. It claimed that one of the men was carrying a rocket launcher. In response to a question from an Anadolu journalist, the army spokesperson’s unit admitted that the Palestinian they killed was actually carrying a bicycle.

The spokesperson pointed out that the area is a war zone, and army units claim to have fought many clashes with armed Hamas-affiliated elements there. It claimed that they had previously used the route targeted by the Israeli drone to smuggle weapons and carry out attacks.

Apologising for the incident, the media office said that it was an “erroneous conclusion” to mistake a bicycle for a rocket launcher.

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