Hamas shuts Qatari cell provider after attack

Gaza: Gaza’s Hamas rulers have shut the offices of a Qatari-Palestinian cellular provider in connection with its investigation into an explosion that targeted the visiting Palestinian prime minister.

Hamas police spokesman Ayman Batniji said Saturday that Wataniya Mobile, a subsidiary of Qatar’s Ooredoo, was being closed down for “refusing to cooperate” in the inquiry.

A roadside bomb struck a convoy carrying Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah earlier this week after he crossed into Gaza from Israel, wounding some of his bodyguards. Local reports say a second bomb that failed to detonate contained a Wataniya SIM card.

Hamdallah’s West Bank-based Palestinian National Authority held Hamas responsible for the attack. Hamas, which overthrew PNA forces in 2007 to seize control of Gaza, rejected the accusation.