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PA: former official leaves hospital after assassination attempt

August 4, 2022 at 9:32 am

Palestinian former deputy prime minister in the Hamas government, Nasser al-Shaer attends the meeting of the Freedoms Committee to end the division, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on January 18, 2012. [Issam Rimawi/Apaimages]

Former Palestinian Authority Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Al-Din Al-Shaer left hospital on Wednesday evening two weeks after gunmen targeted him in Nablus, Quds Press has reported. Al-Shaer was apparently in good spirits as he was taken home in a wheelchair.

Medical sources told Quds Press that he will have a lengthy recovery period, but there is no immediate danger to his life. The bullets crushed bones in his leg and thigh, but did not damage any nerves, arteries or blood vessels.

Al-Shaer, 62, is a prominent Hamas figure in the occupied West Bank. He was shot and wounded by unknown gunmen in Nablus on 22 July. The assault was apparently linked to a PA crackdown on Islamic Bloc students, who protested against the politicisation of Al-Najah National University last month.

The PA President and head of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas and most of the other Palestinian factions have called for an investigation into the attack, but nothing has happened yet. However, social media activists have revealed the identity of the alleged assailants and posted their pictures online, pointing out their close relationship to Abbas and the PA security services.

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