Gaza’s Health Ministry said four Palestinians were killed and several others injured Saturday in a mysterious blast in the southeast part of the Gaza Strip.

The explosion struck a three-wheeled vehicle near one of the five protest camps the Palestinians have set up along the volatile Gaza-Israel border in recent weeks.

The reason for the explosion near the city of Rafah was not immediately known. The Israeli military said it was unaware of any activity in the area of the blast.

Local reports said those who died Saturday were Islamic Jihad terrorists.

It comes a day after another mass gathering along the border area in which thousands of Palestinians, some burning Israeli flags and torching tires, staged a protest against the ten-year-old blockade.

One protester was killed Friday, bringing the death toll to 28 over the last two weeks, with more than 1,500 wounded by Israeli fire since March 30.

The marches have been organized by Gaza’s terror Hamas rulers.

Hamas leaders have sent mixed signals about whether they plan an eventual mass breach of the border fence. The protests are to culminate in a large rally on May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel’s creation. Palestinians mourn the event as their “nakba,” or catastrophe, when they say that “hundreds of thousands were uprooted in the 1948 war over Israel’s creation”.

(AP)