Mysterious Explosions Rock Gaza

A series of unexplained explosions have struck the Gaza Strip in the last week as the security environment continues to deteriorate under Hamas rule, according to Middle Eastern journalists and analysts.

Two simultaneous explosions targeted the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and a police headquarters in the blockaded enclave on Saturday while a Gazan journalist on the ground has confirmed further blasts.

"A bomb exploded near the outer wall of the headquarters of UNRWA in Gaza, about 10 feet from the door, causing no casualties or damage," Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesperson for the UN body, told AFP news agency.

Last Friday, a day before the attack on the UN and police headquarters, a homemade explosive was detonated in close proximity to the former home of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, now used as offices for Hamas, the militant group which control the strip.

The journalist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the explosions took place three days in a row and confirmed that nobody had yet been arrested for the incidents despite Gaza security officials announcing an investigation into the blasts.

"The situation in Gaza is getting worse after the war," the journalist said. "Every day, we had one or two explosions. It's very light, very small explosions but it seems that the intention is not to harm, not to kill, but to give messages. At the moment, it's still limited to this but there is no guarantee how far this will go."

While no group has yet claimed responsibility for the blasts, a Hamas official speaking to the Gaza News Network laid the blame at the feet of the Abbas' Fatah party. "From the beginning of the year, there have been a [number of] incidents involving explosions and gunfire in the Gaza Strip, mainly due to clashes between Fatah and Hamas," the official said.

Daniel Nisman, president of the Tel Aviv-based geopolitical risk consultancy The Levantine Group, says that, while hard to determine, the culprits of the explosions are not likely to be ISIS sympathisers but extreme elements of rival factions, such as Fatah and Hamas, in the enclave ahead of Monday's visit by a delegation of Palestinian Authority (PA) ministers from the West Bank.

"That's the trend. Usually before these delegations come there seems to be an uptick in attacks. Things are so cynical there, it could be internal hardline Hamas rivals that are trying to intimidate people, it could be [former Fatah politician Mohammed] Dahlan supporters," he says.

"I don't believe that it's the Salafis, I believe it's between the radical elements of both sides, of Fatah and Hamas," he notes. "The Salafi elements when they do act, it's more about targeting Hamas entities. It's more about targeting foreign entities."

Last year, two blasts, in October and December, rocked the French Cultural Centre in Gaza, a signal of the increased targeting of foreign symbols in the territory. This January, approximately 200 people demonstrated outside the UN headquarters in Gaza City, which the world body blamed Hamas for.

The PA delegation's visit to Gaza did not last long as both parties squabbled over unpaid salaries for Gaza employees, leading Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah to cut the trip short.

Last year, before the summer conflict between Israeli forces and Palestinian factions, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, Abbas' Fatah and Hamas agreed a unity government to take control of the Palestinian territories but infighting has since further entrenched a political stalemate between the two parties.