Hamas’ security chief in the Gaza Strip was wounded in a car bombing on Friday in what the Islamist group said was a failed assassination attempt orchestrated by Israel.
Hamas did not provide any evidence of Israeli involvement. The Israeli military, asked about the explosion in Gaza, said it did not comment on foreign reports.
The car bombing came as rival factions are trying to implement a new agreement meant to end a 10-year rift that has effectively split the Palestinian territories between Hamas in Gaza and the more mainstream Fatah in the occupied West Bank.
It also coincided with a Hamas crackdown on radical jihadist Salafi groups in Gaza which are opposed to the Palestinian rapprochement.
Read the report in the Brisbane Times and Sydney Morning Herald.