GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Two suspects in the murder of an Italian activist died and another sustained injuries Tuesday when Hamas security forces raided a building in Gaza City after a short standoff outside, officials said.
The Hamas-run interior ministry said Abdul-Rahman Al-Breizat and Bilal Al-Umari were killed in the raid. Both were identified as suspects in the killing of Vittorio Arrigoni.
Al-Breizat threw a grenade at Al-Umari and then shot himself, the ministry said. The third suspect, Mahmoud Muhammad Nimir Salfiti, was injured and detained by security forces.
"The operation ended with Al-Breizat throwing an explosive device at his comrades ... and then firing on himself," the Hamas interior ministry said in a statement.
Medics said Al-Umari was seriously wounded in the blast, and died of his wounds shortly after the raid was over.
"Three security forces were injured, two of them moderately," the ministry added.
The father of the Jordanian suspect accused Hamas of killing his son during the raid.
"It does not make sense that he killed himself. Islam forbids that. They killed him," Mohammad Al-Breizat told Agence France-Presse in Amman.
"My son used to read the Koran, pray and fast Ramadan. We do not know what to do now. If we are officially informed of his death, the family will meet to decide," he said.
Hamas security forces had already detained two people in connection with the murder of Vittorio Arrigoni, who was found hanged on Friday morning, hours after his kidnap by a previously unknown Salafist group.
Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices common in the early days of the faith.
Last week, Hamas announced that it was still hunting for Al-Umari, Salfiti and Al-Breizat, whose mother said earlier Tuesday that she had not seen her son for two years, and had warned him about joining extremist groups.
"My son is religious and conservative, but I do not know if he is jihadist or if he was a member of Al-Qaeda," said Alia Sawaadeh.
"I do not know if he was hiding the truth about his real affiliations. I have not seen him for two years.
"I have always warned Abdul-Rahman against joining such groups. He reassured me many times that he did not belong to any outlawed movement."
Arrigoni's murder caused shock across the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, Palestinian civilians joined members of the Hamas police and security forces for his funeral.
Hundreds of people gathered in Gaza City and at the Rafah border crossing to pay their respects to Arrigoni, 36, who was found hanged in an empty house in northern Gaza.
His body was carried from Gaza City's Shifa hospital in a wooden coffin draped in a Palestinian flag and strewn with rose petals.
Mourners carrying signs bearing his motto "Stay human" surrounded the coffin, as Hamas police and security officials saluted during the state funeral in his honor.
A procession of mourners in cars, waving Palestinian flags from their vehicles, accompanied Arrigoni's body from the hospital, south along Gaza's main road to Rafah.
Others lined the route, holding pictures of Arrigoni, who belonged to the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement and was a well-known figure in Gaza City.
AFP contributed to this report.
