Palestinians to discuss bombing of Hamdallah’s motorcade
Hamas closes Qatari-Palestinian cellphone provider over attack
Several Ramallah-based Palestinian leaders will convene for a meeting on Monday evening to discuss an explosion that struck Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and PA General Intelligence Services chief Majid Faraj’s motorcade in the Gaza Strip last week, a PLO official said on Sunday.
On Tuesday, a roadside bomb exploded next to Hamdallah and Faraj’s motorcade in Beit Hanun in northern Gaza, injuring seven members of their staffs and damaging several cars.
“The PLO Executive Committee, the Fatah Central Committee, the PA security chiefs and other leaders will jointly meet to discuss the explosion,” PLO Executive Committee member Wasel Abu Yousif said in a phone call.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s office said on Tuesday that Hamas bears responsibility for the bombing. However, Faraj, who is also a close adviser of Abbas, said that “it is too early to accuse anyone,” but added that Hamas is responsible for securing the land it controls.
Meanwhile, some Hamas officials suggested on Tuesday that Israel carried out the bombing, while other Hamas leaders insinuated that the PA did it.
On Friday, Mahmoud Habash, Abbas’s adviser for religious affairs, said the Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership “will not allow for this terrorist, criminal act to pass without undertaking punishment, taking decisive and strict measures and reviewing everything,” referring to the bombing. He did not say against who the punishment and measures would be directed.
Last year, the PA ordered cuts for the budgets allocated to Gaza for electricity, medical services, government employees’ salaries and other purposes to pressure Hamas to cede control of the coastal enclave. Many of those cuts remain in place.
Abbas will lead the meeting on Monday, which is slated to start at 7 p.m., according to Abu Yousif.
Hamas on Saturday shut the offices of a Qatari-Palestinian telecommunications company in connection with its investigation into an explosion that targeted the visiting Palestinian prime minister.
Hamas police spokesman Ayman Batniji said on Saturday that Wataniya Mobile, a subsidiary of Qatar’s Ooredoo, was being closed down for “refusing to cooperate” in the inquiry.
TNS contributed to this report.