A bodyguard of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was tragically shot dead in an assassination attempt on the leader, Daily Express US reported.
This happened after a group called the “Sons of Abu Jandal” gave him 24 hours to declare a “global war” against Israel.
The “Sons of Abu Jandal”, a group formed within the West Bank’s Palestinian security system, claimed responsibility for the attack on Abbas’ convoy. They demanded that the president declare a “global war against the Zionist occupation”.
This incident occurred just a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the occupied West Bank.
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He reassured President Abbas that the Biden administration is working hard to help Gaza’s civilians and insisted that Palestinians must have a say in Gaza’s future after the conflict.
On the same day as Blinken’s visit, Israeli planes bombed two refugee camps in Gaza, resulting in the death of at least 53 people.
A reporter from the Associated Press saw the bodies of eight children being brought into a nearby hospital following one of these strikes.
Israel’s military has announced that it has effectively divided the Gaza Strip in two, ahead of an anticipated intensified attack on Hamas targets in the north.
As news of Blinken’s arrival in Ramallah spread, Palestinians came out to protest against US support for Israel’s war, holding signs depicting dripping blood and messages such as “Blinken blood is on your hands.”
Neither Blinken nor Abbas spoke as they greeted each other in front of cameras and their meeting ended without any public comment.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs semi-autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has not been a factor in the Gaza Strip since 2007, when Hamas took control after winning elections there a year earlier. Abbas himself is not popular among Palestinians.
In Baghdad, Blinken said that the Palestinian Authority “is playing a very important role right now in the West Bank in trying to keep stability there.
That’s hugely important because no one wants another front in the West Bank or anywhere else, and they’re really stepping up under very difficult conditions to do the necessary work.” He added that “what we all agree” is that in shaping a future for Gaza, the West Bank and “ultimately” for a Palestinian state, “Palestinian voices have to be at the centre of that. The Palestinian Authority is the representative of those voices so it’s important that it play a leading role.”
Abbas, however, stated that the Palestinian Authority would only take control in Gaza as part of a “comprehensive political solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as reported by the Palestinians’ official WAFA news agency. He also slammed Israel’s attacks on Gaza as a “genocidal war” and called on Blinken “to immediately stop them from committing such crimes,” according to the news agency.
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