Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused on Monday the Hamas Movement of being involved in the assassination attempt that targeted the convoy of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and head of intelligence Majid Faraj last week in the Gaza Strip.
“We know that they, Hamas, are behind it," the President said at the start of the leadership meeting in Ramallah on Monday.
Abbas said he would take national, legal and financial measures to protect out the national project.
"We never thought of punishing any Palestinian citizen, not in the West Bank or Gaza. But we have to say where the wrong is and where the crime is. This situation is not acceptable,” he said.
Last Tuesday, the prime minister and Faraj’s convoy came under attack after entering Gaza when Hamdallah was on his way to attend the inauguration of a wastewater treatment plant in the Gaza Strip.
Hamdallah and Faraj were not hurt. However, seven people from the prime minister’s bodyguards were lightly injured in the explosion.
"There aren't two sides to the division, rather only one side that is consolidating it and enforces an illegal de facto situation," said Abbas, adding that the outcome of the reconciliation talks is the attempt to assassinate Hamdallah and Faraj.
The Palestinian President also said that either the Palestinian government takes full charge of everything in Gaza, or the de facto authority remains fully responsible for it.
“We have been working hard for six months and got nothing, not the government, not the crossings, not security, nothing. It's all hypocrisy. They don't want reconciliation," he added.
However, the Hamas Movement on Monday rejected Abbas’ accusations, and said the Palestinian President was working to “undermine the prospects of advancing the Palestinian national project and achieving national unity.”
