Anees Suheil Barghouti
13 March 2018•Update: 13 March 2018
GAZA CITY, Palestine
An explosion struck near the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to Palestinian authorities.
The blast went off after Hamdallah’s convoy passed through Beit Hanoun city in the northern Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said in a statement.
No casualties were reported.
In statements following the attack, Hamdallah described the bombing as an “assassination attempt”.
"They detonated three cars as we entered the Gaza Strip,” he said during the opening of a desalination plant in the northern Gaza Strip.
"This [attack] will increase our determination to achieve [Palestinian] reconciliation and will not dissuade me from continuing to come to Gaza,” he said.
There was no claim of responsibility for the bombing.
Sabotage attempt
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Presidency condemned the bombing and held Hamas group, which rules the Gaza Strip, responsible for the attack.
“This is an attack on the unity of the Palestinian people,” presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.
He said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will hold a series of meetings to discuss the consequences of the attack on the prime minister’s convoy.
Hamas group, for its part, said the attack was an attempt to sabotage inter-Palestinian reconciliation efforts.
"The bombing attack is suspicious and aims to sabotage reconciliation talks,” Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qasem said in a statement.
“The only side benefiting from this incident is the one who wants the Palestinian division to continue," he added.
Hamdallah arrived in the blockaded strip for a short visit on Tuesday, accompanied by intelligence chief Majd Faraj.
The visit comes amid Egypt-sponsored talks between Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah group to heal a decade-long rift between the two rival groups since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.
