The Palestinian reconciliation between Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), and Hamas has officially failed after Abbas accused the Islamist movement, in a speech at a Palestinian leadership gathering last month, of perpetrating the attack that targeted the motorcade of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on March 13. The attack left seven security guards wounded, but Hamdallah escaped unharmed.

In the speech, Abbas addressed the reconciliation and said there had been “zero” progress in reconciliation due to Hamas, and he vowed to impose a fresh set of sanctions and end all aid payments to the Gaza Strip.

However, Abbas seems to be reluctant to impose fresh sanctions on the Gaza Strip in the midst of the Israeli attack on Gaza protesters that killed at least 17 and injured over 1,000. Egypt is trying to persuade him not to impose the new sanctions. So far, nothing is confirmed.

Hamas denied any involvement in the explosion that targeted Hamdallah. Hamas condemned in a press release what it termed the Palestinian president's baseless accusations, which it said “burns bridges and aggravates the division,” and called for general elections “so that the Palestinian people can choose their leadership.”