Israel is the only suspect in the 2004 death of Yasser Arafat, the chief Palestinian investigator in the case says.
He was speaking a day after Swiss scientists said the Palestinian leader was probably poisoned by radioactive polonium.
The investigator, Tawfik Tirawi, spoke at a news conference held by the Palestinian team that has been investigating Arafat’s death.
Mr Tirawi said that Arafat did not die a natural death, but was evasive when asked repeatedly whether he believed Arafat was poisoned by polonium.
“It is not important that I say here he was killed by polonium,” said Mr Tirawi, who heads the Palestinian committee investigating the mysterious death. “But I say, with all the details available about Yasser Arafat’s death, that he was killed, and that Israel killed him.”
At another point, he described Israel as the “first, fundamental and only suspect in the assassination of Yasser Arafat.”
Israel has denied any role in Arafat’s death, saying it had politically isolated him at the time and had no reason to assassinate him.
Mr Arafat’s widow, Suha, has called on the Palestinian leadership to seek justice for her husband, saying: “It’s clear this is a crime.”
In another interview she described her husband’s death as a “political assassination” and “the crime of the century” .