Abbas blames Hamas for continuation of Israel’s war on Gaza
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said both Israel and the US were responsible for an attack that killed dozens of Gazans, also blaming Hamas for the continuation of the war, Arab News and agencies reported on July 13th.
“The Palestinian presidency condemns the slaughter and holds the Israeli government fully responsible, also the US administration that provides all kinds of support to the occupation and its crimes,” a statement published by Abbas’s office read. It added that “the Hamas movement is a partner in bearing legal, moral and political responsibility for the continuation of the Israeli war of genocide in Gaza Strip.”
The July 13th attack that Abbas referred to targeted Hamas military chief Mohammad Deif and his aide. At least 90 Palestinians were killed and another 300 were wounded, the Gaza health ministry revealed.
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Abbas’s blaming of Hamas suggests rising tensions between his own Fatah faction and Hamas, who began running Gaza in 2007 after taking over the region’s coastal territory from the president’s loyalists. The group has accused Abbas of siding with Israel.
Hamas leader Basem Naim also blamed Abbas for the failed peace talks between the group’s representatives and Israel. He added that Abbas’s comments “partner [with] the Zioinist enemy and its crimes, not only in Gaza, but also in all of the Palestinian land.”
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Abbas’s statement suggested that Palestinian Authority “has chosen to be in the same trench with the occupation.” “Such an attitude will not succeed in blackmailing the resistance or pressuring it,” he said.
Arab News and agencies
