Hamas Arrests Suspect in Hamdallah Attack

Hamas security forces have arrested a suspect in the attempted assassination of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Tuesday, according to a report in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.

The suspect was said to be a former member of the PA’s security forces, though neither Hamas nor the PA have confirmed it.

Hamas members searched the suspect’s home for evidence as well as other locations that he had allegedly visited in Gaza, the Beirut daily added. The reported arrest follows others on the day of the incident, according to Haaretz.

Hamas said that a special security committee headed by Interior Minister Tawfiq Abu Naim was investigating the attack.

Meanwhile, Deputy Interior Minister Muhammad Mansour said on Wednesday that the roadside bomb detonated in the incident was of professional caliber, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“The explosion was precisely planned and carried out, which means that it was not done by individuals but rather professionals,” Mansour, who was in Hamdallah and Faraj’s motorcade, told official PA radio.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s office said on Wednesday that Hamas bears responsibility for the bombing.

However, Faraj, who is also an Abbas advisor of Abbas, said “It is too early to accuse anyone,” though not contradicting that Hamas is responsible for securing the territory it controls.