Palestine’s “unity” Government between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas has been threatened by a series of bombs in Gaza on Friday morning.
At least 10 explosions targeted the homes and cars of leaders of the Fatah party, the leading faction in the Palestinian Authority. There were no casualties, but significant material damage was reported.
The stage for commemorations of next week’s 10th anniversary of the death of Palestinian leader and Fatah founder Yasser Arafat was also targeted.
Hamas, which has been the ruling party in Gaza since 2006, quickly condemned the attacks, but Fatah’s officials held it responsible.
Azzam Al Ahmad, who heads Fatah’s reconciliation team for the unity agreement, said the condemnation “does not absolve Hamas from bearing full responsibility”. He claimed that “Hamas military officials” said they “were going to torpedo planned commemorations of the death of President Yasser Arafat”.
“The Fatah central committee condemns the crimes which took place this morning against its leaders and lays the responsibility for these crimes upon Hamas,” senior official Nasser Al Qidwa added.
The blasts led Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to cancel a visit to Gaza on Saturday. He was scheduled to meet with the European Union’s new
foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini about the stalled Israel-Palestine peace process.
(Featured Photo: Mohammed Abed — AFP/Getty)