You simply can’t make this stuff up.
GAZA (Reuters) – Israel killed four Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, two in a ground assault and two in an air strike against militants launching rockets at the Jewish state, Palestinian witnesses and medics said.
The violence was the worst in coastal Gaza in 10 days, and came a day before Tony Blair makes his first visit to the region as envoy to the Quartet of Middle East power brokers.
Ohmigod! The violence was the worst in ten days! Wow, mark that down on your calendar! And it happened the day before Tony Blair is to visit the region! Surely that must mean something huge.
Really, can Reuters reports get any more stupid? Do they have to add meaningless context phrases to make the news seem bigger or more important or whatever else they’re trying to achieve?
Or perhaps the author is trying to get a job writing for the Colbert Report.
I am perfectly well satisfied with al-Reuters pointing out that the Palestinian Arabs have just committed the worst violence in the past 10 days.
They might have mentioned that Hamas is probably simply continuing their antipathy to Mr Blair’s current mission.