Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday accused the Islamist movement Hamas of trying "to destroy" efforts to broker national unity through a series of bomb blasts in Gaza last week.

Abbas accused Hamas of being behind the attacks targeting leaders of his Fatah movement in Gaza, saying the rival faction was trying "to sabotage and destroy the Palestinian national project."

The leader was speaking in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

In response to the accusation, Hamas slammed Abbas for telling “lies,” AFP reported.

“Abbas's speech is a web of lies, insults and disinformation,” Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said denouncing the Palestinian leader as “sectarian and partisan”.

“What the Palestinian people need is a courageous president,” he said.

*Agencies