Gaza – Fatah Official Survives Assassination Attempt

Gaza – A senior Fatah official in the Gaza Strip on Monday survived an assassination attempt while two of his aides were injured.

Three unidentified gunmen opened fire at a car belonging to Ma’moun Sweidan, who is in charge of Fatah’s international relations, in the center of Gaza City.

Sweidan was not in the car at the time of the attack. Two of his aides, who were sitting in the car, which was parked outside his office, were injured and taken to hospital.

The two were identified as Salameh Al-Aweidat and Yasser Elayan.

The attack was the second of its kind against a senior Fatah official in less than 24 hours.

On Sunday night, arsonists set fire to a car belonging to another senior Fatah official, Abdel Muni’m Al-Tahrawi, who lives in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Although no group claimed responsibility for the attacks, Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf accused Hamas’s “armed terror groups” of targeting the Fatah officials.

“We hold Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh responsible for the terror of their armed groups in the Gaza Strip,” Assaf said. “This is a failed attempt to silence the national voices in the Gaza Strip.”

Hamas dismissed the charges, saying the attacks were the result of internal differences in Fatath.

A spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry said that preliminary investigations have shown that the failed attempt on Sweidan’s life was the result of a dispute among Fatah officials over salaries.

The Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank recently cut off the salaries of more than 200 Fatah members in the Gaza Strip who are suspected of being affiliated with ousted Fatah leader Mohamed Dahlan.

The PA has accused Dahlan, who lives in the United Arab Emirates, of financial corruption and conspiring against President Mahmoud Abbas.