Coordinated bombings in Gaza spark accusations, security concerns

GAZA CITY - Bombardments once again. 

Gazans woke up early Friday morning to ten simultaneous blasts across the Gaza Strip which targeted the homes and cars of Fatah leaders and officials.

This is the first time Gazans have seen coordinated attacks at the homes of political leaders. Homes and property hit on Friday morning included those of the governor of Gaza, Abdullah Al-Ifranji, and Fatah Legislative Council member, Fisal Abu-Shahlah. 

At the scene of one of the blasts, Fatah leader Fayez Abu Etta, stood among piles of shattered glass around his destroyed car. The gates of his home in Beit Lahia also sustained damage. He refused to comment on who might be behind the blast. 

One of the bombs targeted the mass-stage designed for an event next week to commemorate the death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, one of the first such celebrations since 2007.  

Palestinian unity government Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah abruptly cancelled his visit to Gaza, scheduled for Saturday, after the bombing. 

There were no immediate reports of causalities after the explosions which occurred on a weekend day in the Strip’s largest city where streets were much less busy than during the working week.  A crowd of police officers and investigators arrived to various blast scenes while the Ministry of Interior and National Forces told Middle East Eye that its forces launched an investigation.

“We will not allow the Gaza Strip to get back to internal conflict and security chaos,” the statement said. “We will chase all those involved in such criminal work.”

But just hours later, the attacks appears to have opened a new round of accusations and politicking unlikely to end anytime soon.  

In a statement released to the media, Fatah accused Hamas of carrying out the attacks against the group’s leaders and said they consider the incident a serious escalation that could undermine efforts of reconciliation between their group and Hamas which have been underway since May. 

Hamas also issued a statement denouncing the attack as a “criminal act”, but the organisation’s spokesman Sami Abu Zahra said he would not respond to Fatah’s accusations, and then highlighted the fact that unity government has yet to pay the salaries of police officers in Gaza. Hamas political leader Moussa Abu-Marzouq called on Hamdallah not to cancel his planned visit. 

On the edge of explosion

While much of the focus this week has been on escalating tensions in Jerusalem, analysts and observers say that Gaza is on the edge of explosion. They anticipate a renewed round of violence between Israel and Gaza, as a result of the siege imposed on Gaza, the closure of the enclave’s crossings and the failure of Israel to honour the ceasefire agreement in Cairo. 

The situation is also tense inside Gaza. Hundreds of police officers, who have not seen wages in nine months, are expected to take to the streets in Gaza late Friday to protest because the unity government has not yet paid their salaries. Last week, the Palestinian unity government distributed $1200 to an estimated 24,000 out of 43,000 civil servants employed by the previous government. Police officers and others employed in security, however, were not offered handouts. 

Following Friday’s blast, many political groups tied the problems of the new unity government to what they say is a deteriorating security situation on the Strip.

“We demand security forces to quickly move to reveal the criminals,” said the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine in a statement on Friday. The explosion, the statement added, is a dangerous development which could divert the fight against Israeli occupation.

Anwar Jima, spokesman of Al-Nidal Popular Front said the attack is “dubious” and the act of “cowards” meant to distract Palestinian unity and destroy efforts of reconciliation. 

“This serves external agendas, which does neither serve our cause nor people,” Jima said.

Daouwd Shihab, spokesman of Islamic Jihad, also condemned the attack and said Gaza bombardment "only serves the enemy". 

“The timing of these explosions coincides with the calls for anger to support our Jerusalemites people and protecting Al-Aqsa mosque raises dangerous question marks,” Shihab said.

The attack has been condemned by Palestinian Resistance Committee, a group involved in fighting Israeli occupation, like Islamic Jihad and appear not interested in taking political or governmental positions.

“This is a criminal act,” the PRC said in a statement, calling on security forces in Gaza to chase the perpetrators and bring them to justice. 

As Gazan worshippers walked out of mosques following Friday prayers, many wondered if the morning bombings were the first of a round of new violence.