Poisoned substance sent to Haneya's office in Ramallah: spokesman

A Hamas-led cabinet spokesman said on Tuesday that foreign experts were cooperating with Palestinians in a bid to figure out the substance that was found in an envelop addressed to Prime Minister Ismail Haneya.

Ghazi Hamad said that the Interior Ministry also began to investigate how the envelope was sent to Ramallah from Tel Aviv.

"The efforts carried out with some experts from outside are aimed at finding out the sort of the poison which was in the envelope and limiting complications for the injured," he told the Voice of Palestine.

Hamad also considered the incident as an attempt to assassinate Haneya, who is based in the Gaza Strip.

"Since the envelope was addressed to the prime minister, it is deliberately targeting him, especially as Israel claimed repeatedly that Haneya was among the targeted," Hamad said.

He said that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Haneya agreed to tell the United Nations and the European Union the matter.

Five Palestinians working in Haneya's Office in the West Bank city of Ramallah were taken to hospital on Monday after being exposed to suspected powder in an envelope.

Source: Xinhua