Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has blamed Israel and the U.S. for a deadly attack in the Gaza Strip on Saturday that killed dozens. However, he also criticized Hamas for the ongoing conflict in Gaza, signaling increased tension between Abbas’s Fatah faction and the Islamist group Hamas.
Israel stated that the attack aimed to kill Hamas military chief Mohammad Deif and his aide. It remains unclear whether Deif or his deputy died in the strike, which left at least 90 Palestinians dead and 300 wounded, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Fatah’s continuing right with Hamas
“The Palestinian presidency condemns the slaughter and holds the Israeli government fully responsible, as well as the U.S. administration that provides all kinds of support to the occupation and its crimes,” Abbas declared in a statement issued by his office.
Additionally, Abbas assigned some blame to Hamas, noting that the group’s October 7 attack inside Israel, which killed 1,200 people and abducted around 250 others, initiated the nine-month conflict in Gaza. “The presidency sees that by escaping national unity, and providing free pretexts to the occupation state, 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 statement continued.
Since its 2007 takeover of Gaza from Abbas loyalists, Hamas has controlled the coastal territory. Consequently, Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that Abbas’s statement indicated the 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,” Abu Zuhri asserted.
Abbas and Hamas leaders indulge in blame game
Furthermore, efforts by Arab mediators, led by Egypt, have so far failed to reconcile the power struggles between Fatah and Hamas. Basem Naim, another Hamas leader who participated in previous reconciliation talks with Fatah, blamed Abbas for the failure to reach a unity deal. Naim argued that Abbas’s comments made him and his authority “partners to the Zionist enemy and its crimes not only in Gaza but also in all of Palestinian land.”
The statements from Abbas and Hamas reflect the deepening divisions within Palestinian leadership, complicating efforts for peace and unity in the region.
With inputs from Reuters
