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Mahmoud Abbas. Not happy. (file photo)
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| By Israel Insider staff June 12, 2007 |
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PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah ordered forces loyal to him to defend their positions in Gaza, and counter what he called a "coup" by Hamas Islamists. Fatah HQ and bases in northern Gaza fell to Hamas.
Hamas, escalating its struggle for power, on Tuesday afternoon launched attacks against Fatah security installations, seizing a number of smaller positions and laying seige to others.
About 200 Hamas gunmen surrounded the compound, where some 500 Fatah fighters were holed up. Hamas fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at the building.
Hamas forces demanded that Fatah forces abandon their positions, threatening to attack those who remained in their posts.
A Fatah security official confirmed the building had been fallen, but later reports said that fighting was continuing.
Dozens of people are reported dead in today's fighting, but reports are highly sketchy at this stage.
A loud explosion was heard Tuesday afternoon near the office Abbas and Palestinian Authority's security headquarters in Gaza City, the result of mortar shells fired at the building.
But so far Hamas had not taken over the compound. "The presidential compound area and the security headquarters around Abu Mazen's (Abbas') office are completely secured," a Fatah man said.
The Fatah man noted that members of the presidential guard were taking over all the routes and buildings overlooking the presidential compound and the headquarters area.
"It will not be simple for Hamas to infiltrate the main headquarters, and as long as we have them, the impression Hamas is trying to create that the movement has taken over the Strip is false," he said.
Former Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath of Fatah said Hamas gunmen ransacked his Gaza home Tuesday afternoon, and shot one of his bodyguards in the leg. Shaath, speaking to the media by telephone, appeared shaken but said no one in his family had been hurt. He said the attackers stole many items from his home in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahia.
"Advance, our forces! Confront the seekers of the coup. Defend your dignity and your military honour. Defend the security of your people," the command of Abbas' National
Security Forces said in a statement issued in Gaza.
The statement giving the order described Hamas as a "bloody party which is launching a coup against the president and against the authority and national unity government."
The Palestinian president said he woulld meet with senior Fatah members on Tuesday evening to discuss quitting the unity government, in light of the situation in the Strip. The gesture seemed ridiculous as the two factions tried to kill each other's leaders and members whenever and wherever possible.
Vehicles carried members of the National Security Forces to battles in western and northern Gaza City. Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV and radio stations came under fire from Fatah forces Tuesday, employees said. The Al-Aqsa TV station was surrounded by security forces allied with Fatah, said a station employee, Mohammed Abu Bilal. Farfur the television mouse was reported fleeing from the scene.
Security officials said they received orders to stop the station's broadcasts. Shortly after the attack, the station started playing pro-Fatah songs, a sign that the security forces had seized control of the station. But later, the station broadcast pictures of what it said was a thwarted attack, along with pictures Hamas gunmen standing around captured security vehicles.
"Al-Aqsa is still shining," the radio station said. Witnesses said gunfire was continuing in the area.
Also Tuesday evening, two gunmen, one from Hamas and the other from Fatah, were killed in a clash in the central Gaza town of Dir el-Balah. The violence in the Strip, which erupted again Monday morning, has claimed 19 lives so far.
Fatah sources said Tuesday afternoon that they believed Hamas was trying to achieve a decisive victory in the Gaza Strip within hours.
Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, threatened to expand the fighting to the West Bank and kill Hamas officials there unless the organization ceased its attacks in Gaza.
Hamas seizes control of hospitals
On Tuesday morning, Hamas gunmen seized the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, making it the third medical center to come under Hamas control in two days. Gunmen traded fire at the institution.
Hamas then warned over a mosque loudspeaker that it would attack the headquarters of the Preventive Security Service in Gaza City, which is loyal to Fatah.
"The warning which we have given you to surrender has ended, and we will attack this position of Zionist collaborators," the warning said.
In Khan Yunis, Hamas controlled the roof of hospital and Fatah security forces took up positions nearby. The two sides traded fire. About 15 children attending a kindergarten in the compound were rushed into the main building, hospital officials said.
Haniyeh's house targeted again
On Tuesday morning, gunmen attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade the home of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in a refugee camp near Gaza City, for the second day in a row. His family was unhurt.
Fatah gunmen kidnapped a member of the Hamas military wing and executed him in the street. The dead man was identified as a cousin of Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader assassinated by Israel in 2004.
Earlier in the day, three women and a child were killed when Hamas militants attacked the home of a senior Fatah security official with mortars and grenades, security officials said. The gunmen seized Hassan Abu Rabi and killed his 14-year-old son and three women in the house, hospital officials said. Fatah gunmen also stormed the house of a Hamas lawmaker and burned it to the ground.
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