Hamas investigates attack on Palestinian PM in Gaza

By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Hamas-run Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into a bomb attack that targeted the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in the Gaza Strip.

“A high-level investigation panel has been formed to look into the circumstances of this crime,” ministry spokesman Iyad al-Bazm said in a statement on Wednesday.

He said security agencies were questioning a number of suspects “in an effort to catch the perpetrators”.

On Tuesday, Hamdallah’s convoy struck a roadside bomb as it passed through the Gaza Strip’s Beit Hanoun district.
While the Palestinian prime minister escaped the blast unscathed, six others were reportedly injured.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which Hamdallah describes as an “assassination attempt”.

While the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority blamed the attack on Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip since 2007, the resistance group decried it as an attempt to sabotage inter-Palestinian reconciliation efforts.