Palestinian gov’t. blame Hamas for assassinate attempt on Hamdallah

CAIRO – 22 March 2018: The Palestinian Consensus Government blames Hamas for attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in the Gaza Strip last week, objecting to what it called “distorted, illogic scenarios” by Hamas to cover up the truth, according to an official release on Thursday.

The government expressed its mistrust in the investigations conducted by Hamas’s interior ministry that led to the killing of a citizen, alleging to be involved in the assassination attempt of Hamdallah, saying that it has guessed the whole scenario before it has been executed.

“The attempt of Hamas to spread rumors and imputing the coward assassination attempt to the state and its institutions is illogic and untrue,” spokesperson of the consensus government, Youssef al-Mahmoud stated on Thursday.

“The consensus government is renewing its assertion that Hamas is fully responsible for the terrorist criminal assassination attempt, which proves the importance of the Palestinian leadership’s demand to hand the complete responsibility of the Gaza Strip, especially the security file,” Mahmoud added.

Palestinian Ministry of Interior denied on Thursday claims that Hamas has shared with it information about the assassination attempt on Hamdallah in Gaza on March 13, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Hamas-run security forces in Gaza announced Thursday the death of the main suspect in last week's assassination attempt against PM Hamdallah after a gun battle in which two security officers were killed.

The suspect, Anas Abdel Malik Abu Khousa, and two of his assistants were wounded in the shootout with security forces that surrounded his hideout at al-Nuseirat Camp in the center of the Gaza Strip, the official said. The other wounded suspect, Abdel Hady al-Ashahb, died of wounds afterwards.

Hamdallah and Palestinian security chief Majid Faraj's convoy was attacked by a roadside bomb in Gaza on March 13. They were uninjured; Hamdallah said he will return to the strip once again to attain inter-Palestinian reconciliation.

During a press conference with his Bulgarian counterpart, President of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Mahmoud Abbas called on Hamas to hand the authority in Gaza to the Palestinian consensus government, especially the security authority, blaming the Islamist group for the repercussions of failing the Egyptian efforts to end the division between Palestinian factions.