Explosion reported near Hamas security HQ in Gaza

An explosion rattled the Gaza Strip Monday evening when a bomb went off near Hamas’s internal security headquarters in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.

Initially, casualties were reported at the scene but Arabic-language media and Gaza-based outlets later denied claims anyone had been injured, according to remarks translated by the NRG news site.

The explosion was set off by a roadside bomb near the Al-Radwan mosque that sits in proximity to the Hamas internal security headquarters. Hamas security forces opened an investigation into the incident, according to the Gaza News Network.

Media reports diverged as to the precise location of the bomb, with some outlets reporting it was planted abutting the mosque, while others said the explosion occurred at an empty lot near the mosque.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but Hamas officials pointed the finger at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s rival Palestinian faction, Fatah.

“From the beginning of the year, there have been a [number of] incidents involving explosions and gunfire in the Gaza Strip, mainly due to clashes between Fatah and Hamas,” a Gaza-based official said, in remarks translated by NRG.

Over the weekend, a car laden with explosives was detonated in the center of the coastal strip, without causing any casualties.

Hamas and Fatah have traded barbs in recent months, accusing each other of sewing chaos in the Palestinian territories.

The accusations raise fresh doubt about their ability to work together in a national-unity government and to rebuild areas of the Gaza Strip destroyed in last year’s conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The unity government was to replace the rule of Hamas, which  seized Gaza in 2007, but the two sides have failed to make the agreement work. The political paralysis is seen as a major reason for the slow reconstruction pace.

AP contributed to this report