Egypt’s Foreign Ministry condemned the assassination attempt targeting Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, labeling it as "a terrorist operation." More so, the ministry issued a statement congratulating the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority on Hamdallah’s wellbeing. “Such brutal terrorist attacks targeting or obstructing the Palestinian reconciliation process will fail, and Egypt will continue its tireless efforts to achieve reconciliation and enable Palestinians to manage their own state, according to a unified and comprehensive vision to achieve the aspirations of the Palestinian people,” the statement added. For his part, Palestinian ambassador to Cairo Diab Allouh denied that Hamas was ever charged with the incident, in a response to allegations made by some media outlets. “The main objective of this cowardly bombing is to disrupt reconciliation,” he said, adding that “relevant investigation committees are the only ones entitled to identify those responsible for the assassination attempt”. “The attempt to assassinate Hamdallah will not directly affect the course of reconciliation—as a matter of fact it can increase the pace of its achievement and push the various parties to move forward to reach agreement on outstanding issues, such as empowering the government, security affairs, and others,” Professor at Cairo UniversityTariq Fahmy said. Fahmy, who is specialized in international relations and strategies, told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the mission of the Egyptian delegation in the Gaza Strip, as well as the results of the talks with the Hamas delegation in Cairo, was moving towards realizing what Palestinian people have aspired for a long time.” He pointed out that progress achieved had forced ill-wishers and traitors resort to the assassination attempt to impede reconciliation. Fahmy pointed to his expectation that “President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas will order the formation of a commission of inquiry which will include representatives of different factions, and announce its findings before the public opinion.”