Hamas blames Fatah official for attack
Angry Hamas officials on Friday blamed a powerful Gaza strongman and senior Fatah official for a shooting attack on Ismail Haniyeh’s entourage that killed one of the prime minister’s bodyguards and wounded his son.
Ismail Radwan, a Hamas spokesman, told a news conference that Mohammed Dahlan “planned and organised the (attempted) assassination of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh”.
The shooting attack occurred out yesterday amid a chaotic melee at the Rafah border terminal as Haniyeh crossed back into Gaza from Egypt.
The Rafah crossing lies inside Dahlan’s power base in southern Gaza. Dahlan is a senior official in Fatah, Hamas’ top rival.
Fatah dismissed the accusations against Dahlan.
“These accusations are not true, as long as no investigation to find out has been conducted,” Tawfik Abu Khousa, a Fatah spokesman, said, calling for an official investigations.
“These accusations are posing a grave threat to Palestinian unity.”
