Hamas condemns attempted assassination of Prime Minister

An explosive device targeted the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamadallah in Gaza on 13th March 2018 []

An explosive device has targeted the convoy of Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamadallah after it entered the Gaza Strip.

Spokesman of the Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza Iyad Al-Bozom confirmed that the explosion targeted Hamadallah’s convoy and stressed there were no casualties.

He also reiterated that Hamdallah continued his way to the planned inauguration of a wastewater treatment facility in the north of the Gaza Strip.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Hamas for this “sinful attack” against the prime minister and said he would hold an urgent meeting with his aide to study how to respond to it.

Hamas: Gaza is sitting on top of a volcano

On Twitter Hamas condemned “the crime of targeting the Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamadallah, considering it part of the attempt to destabilise security in Gaza and to foil efforts to achieve national unity”.

At the same time Hamas condemned the “ready accusations” of the PA president.

Following the attack Hamadallah said: “I will return to Gaza despite what happened today and I call on Hamas to allow the government to effectively control the Gaza Strip. What happened today will not stop us from continuing reconciliation efforts.”

People come together after an explosive device targeted the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamadallah in Gaza on 13 March 2018 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Members of a Palestinian security force seen after an explosive device targeted the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Gaza on 13 March 2018 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah seen in the centre surrounded by his security team after an explosive was set off aimed at his convoy, in Gaza on 13 March 2018 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

People come together after an explosive device targeted the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamadallah in Gaza on 13 March 2018 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.