RAMALLAH/GAZA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian officials on Saturday accused Islamic Hamas movement of being responsible for the attack on the headquarters of the public Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) in Gaza Strip.
On Friday, a group of militants broke into the PBC headquarters in the coastal enclave and sabotaged equipment, files and hard disks.
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said that Hamas should be held responsible for the assault and must bring those behind the crimes to justice.
The damage to the TV headquarters was estimated at 10,000 U.S. dollars, Ola Kassab, the deputy director of Voice of Palestine in Gaza, was quoted by Official Palestinian news agency WAFA as saying.
Mahmoud Al-Aloul, vice chairman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, accused Hamas of allowing such an attack which he described as a "crime and a violation by vicious people targeting the Palestinian media."
Al-Aloul added that the assault will not "prevent us from keeping our goal clear, which is the resistance to the Israeli occupation."
Chairman of the PBC Ahmad Assaf said that the Palestinian TV will continue its operation in Gaza despite the attack.
He said that even though the Palestinian government has offered to provide new equipment to the TV network, it will be difficult to get approval from Israel to allow such equipment to enter Gaza.
Hamas issued a statement on Friday, condemning the attack and ordering the Interior Ministry in Gaza to bring the suspects to court.
Hamas also blamed Abbas for raising tensions in Gaza by suspending the salaries of thousands of Palestinian Authority employees.
Head of the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate Nasser Abu Baker also condemned Hamas for the attack and its attempt to prevent journalists from "working and delivering their messages."
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza has not commented on the incident.
Hamas banned the employees of the PBC from working between 2007 and 2011. The movement has controlled the Gaza Strip after routing the forces loyal to Abbas' Fatah party in 2007, and Israel has imposed a blockade on the area since then.
Egypt has been seeking to enact an internal Palestinian reconciliation deal between the rival parties, but no significant breakthrough has been announced.
