GAZA: Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah survived an assassination attempt in Gaza on Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority said after an apparent roadside bomb targeted his motorcade.

The attack on the West-backed leader, who is spearheading the Authority’s reconciliation efforts with Gaza’s dominant group, Hamas, happened on the day the White House is due to hold a meeting on the humanitarian situation in the enclave.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for what one Palestinian Autho­rity security official in Gaza said was a roadside bomb blast.

In a statement, Hamas condemned the attack and said the targeting of Hamdallah’s motorcade was “part of attempt to damage the security of Gaza and deal a blow to efforts to finalise reconciliation”.

The Hamas interior ministry said they had arrested three suspects and begun an investigation.

The statement further said that the attack had been done by the “same hands” responsible for the assassination of one senior Hamas figure, Mazen Faqha, and the attempted assassination of another last year.

Hamas blamed the killing of Faqha on Israel. The second attack, an explosion targeting Hamas’s head of security in Gaza, is widely believed to have been the work of radical Islamists.

The Islamists opposed to Hamas also operate within the Gaza Strip and have regularly been behind unrest.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2018