Hamas reopens telecom firm in Gaza after bomb row

The terror group Hamas is to reopen the Gaza offices of a major telecommunications firm, officials said Tuesday, after a row over a probe into the attempted assassination of the Palestinian premier.

The Hamas-run police in Gaza closed down the Wataniya Mobile firm in the Palestinian enclave on Saturday, after the state prosecutor accused it of failing to comply with the investigation into the bomb attack targeting Rami Hamdallah.

Hamdallah, who is prime minister of the Palestinian government in the West Bank, was unharmed when a roadside bomb on March 13 blew up near his convoy during a rare visit to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Six of his bodyguards were lightly wounded.

The attorney general in Gaza, in a statement, said Tuesday that the company would reopen fully, without giving further details.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the bomb attack, though Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday directly accused Hamas.

The Islamist movement rejected the charge and said it was investigating, suggesting Israel might be to blame.

Other possible suspects include smaller, more radical terror groups that operate in Gaza but are opposed to Hamas.

The apparent assassination attempt further complicated an already faltering reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Abbas’s secular Fatah party.