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Gaza residents protesting local violence.
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| By Associated Press February 2, 2007 |
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Hamas fighters blew up a pro-Fatah radio station in Gaza, ambulances were caught in the crossfire and gunmen exhanged machine gun fire in deserted streets as factional battles refused to let up Friday in the chaotic coastal territory.
Two Fatah-affiliated security men died in clashes in northern Gaza early Friday, hospital officials said. Eight people have died since Thursday, when violence erupted after a brief truce between Fatah and Hamas.
Violence between Fatah and Hamas has claimed nearly 70 lives since erupting in early December.
Overnight, gunmen from the rival factions used mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy caliber machine guns as they battled in the streets of Gaza. Dr. Muawiya Hassanin of the Palestinian Health Ministry said Friday morning that 95 people had been wounded since Thursday afternoon.
Ambulances and rescue teams were caught in the crossfire all over Gaza, he said.
Hamas gunmen blew up the Fatah-affiliated Voice of Labor radio station in the town of Jebaliya Friday morning after a five-hour siege, according to Rasem Bayri, who heads the Palestinian Federation of Labor Unions. The Hamas fighters pulled down a Palestinian flag flying on the roof of the building and put up a green Hamas flag, Bayri said.
Late Thursday, hundreds of Fatah gunmen stormed a Hamas stronghold, the Islamic University in Gaza City. Flames were seen leaping from two of the university buildings.
A security official affiliated with Fatah said seven Iranian citizens were arrested at the university, and an eighth committed suicide. The security official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. He offered no proof.
Hamas official Islam Shahwan denied the claim and said there were no Iranian citizens at the university and warned Fatah to end its assault or there would be "very serious consequences."
Iran has supplied Hamas with funds, but there have been no previous claims of Iranians working with Hamas in Gaza.
On Thursday, an Egyptian mediator blamed Hamas and called for calm. The renewed outbreak came just three days after the Egyptian mediators persuaded the warring factions to end weeks of clashes that killed dozens. However, the truce did not resolve underlying disputes that set off the conflict between the Islamic Hamas, which is running the Palestinian government, and Fatah of moderate President Mahmoud Abbas.
Both sides appeared willing to avoid a full-scale civil war, but they were just as adamant over keeping their own security forces on the streets -- a recipe for more clashes. Also, the renewed violence further distanced talks between the two sides over a joint government that might end punishing Western foreign aid sanctions.
An incident in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Thursday set off clashes all over the impoverished seaside territory.
Hamas gunmen ambushed an official convoy guarded by the Fatah presidential guard and hijacked two trucks filled with tents, medical kits and toilets, security officials said. The United States and some Arab countries had pledged to give equipment and training to the security forces loyal to Abbas.
Col. Burhan Hamad, the head of the Egyptian security team in Gaza that negotiated the truce, denounced the attack on the convoy as "unjustified" and angrily blamed Hamas. He appealed to the warring factions to stop the new clashes. The violent Islamic Jihad, in the role of peacemaker, called for convening an urgent meeting to discuss resumption of the truce.
The mufti of Gaza called for a truce, saying Muslims shedding Muslim blood is "taboo."
In the West Bank, Israeli troops killed two armed Palestinians near the town of Ramallah early Friday. Palestinian security officials said the men were police officers on a routine patrol.
The army said two armed men in civilian clothes approached troops on an overnight raid, and the soldiers opened fire when the men refused to put down their weapons. |
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