An explosion struck the convoy of the Palestinian prime minister Tuesday as he was making a rare visit to Gaza, in what his Fatah party called an assassination attempt it blamed on Gaza terrorists.
The explosion went off shortly after the convoy entered Gaza through the Erez border crossing between Israel and Gaza.
Gaza's Hamas-run interior ministry said the explosion hit as the prime minister's convoy passed near the northern town of Beit Hanoun. No one was injured, and security services have launched an investigation, ministry spokesman Eyad Al-Bozom said.
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah was unharmed and went on to inaugurate a long-awaited sewage plant project in the northern part of the strip.
But Fatah quickly fingered Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers as the culprits behind the "cowardly attack" on the convoy, further escalating tensions between the bitter rivals.
Three of the vehicles in Hamdallah's convoy were damaged, their windows blown out. One had signs of blood on the door.
Hamdallah, who is seated in the West Bank, arrived in Hamas-run Gaza Strip to inaugurate the sewage plant. After the blast he declared that attacks will "not deter [him] from seeking to end the bitter split. We will still come to Gaza."
A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement after the blast, saying "The attack against the government of consensus is an attack against the unity of the Palestinian people."
The United Nations Middle East envoy also condemned the attack on Tuesday, calling for a prompt investigation into what he called a "grave incident."
In a statement, Nickolay Mladenov said that until the "legitimate" Palestinian Authority takes power in Gaza, the Hamas militant group must enable the internationally backed government to work without fear of intimidation, harassment or violence.
The explosion occurred near the spot where a U.S. diplomatic convoy was blown up by a remote-controlled bomb in 2003 shortly after it entered the Gaza Strip. Three American security specialists were killed and a U.S. diplomat was injured in that blast.
The sewage plant was envisioned in 2007 after overburdened sewage reservoirs collapsed, killing five Palestinians.
The World Bank, European Union and other European governments have provided nearly $75 million in funding. Hamas' takeover of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007 and the ensuing Israeli-Egyptian blockade, power shortages and conflicts have delayed the opening of the project by four years.
Besides the old reservoirs, the plant will receive wastewater from four towns and villages. After treatment, the water will be used for irrigation and the remainder will be safely dumped into the sea.
