PALESTINIAN PM SAFE AFTER CONVOY HIT BY BLAST DURING VISIT TO GAZA STRIP

GAZA CITY: An explosion targeted Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah’s convoy as he arrived in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday for a rare visit, lightly wounding seven people, officials and witnesses said. Hamdallah was not injured in the explosion, which occurred shortly after his convoy entered the territory run by Islamist movement Hamas, a security source in the convoy said. A statement on official Palestinian media said President Mahmud Abbas considered it a “cowardly targeting” of Hamdallah’s convoy and held his rivals Hamas responsible. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Radical Islamists opposed to Hamas also operate within the Gaza Strip and have regularly been behind unrest there.