Gunmen shoot, wound Hamas official in West Bank

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian police say unknown assailants shot and wounded an official affiliated with Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers in the occupied West Bank. Nasser al-Shaer, who served as deputy Hamas prime minister for a year and a half after the group won the last Palestinian elections in 2006, was admitted to hospital Friday with gunshot wounds to his legs. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the shooting and ordered an investigation. Hamas, which in 2007 routed pro-Abbas forces in Gaza, denounced the shooting as an “assassination attempt.” Since 2007, Gaza has remained under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade. Repeated efforts to reconcile Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, which holds sway in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers have failed.