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Mourners chant slogans during the funeral of Palestinian security force officer Ramadan Ramadan, who was a member of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Force 17, and was killed during clashes with Hamas gunmen in central Gaza. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners October 3, 2006 |
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A Fatah-linked militia circulated leaflets on Tuesday threatening to kill top leaders of the rival Hamas group as violence between the sides escalated in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the Fatah militant group, confirmed the authenticity of the statement, which threatened to execute Interior Minister Said Siyam of Hamas, the group's Syria-based political leader, Khaled Mashaal, and Youssef Zahar, head of the Hamas militia.
According to the Jerusalem Post, on Monday night the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades threatened to kill all of Hamas's leaders, including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh as well as Hamas Politburo chief Khaled Mashaal.
In a message sent to news agencies, the group said that it considered Mashaal, Interior Minister Sayid Siam and another high-ranking member of the ministry, Yosef al-Zahar, responsible for the deaths of Palestinians killed over the last two days during Hamas-Fatah clashes.
Eleven Palestinians were killed and more than 150 were wounded in fierce clashes that erupted between supporters of Hamas and Fatah over the past 48 hours in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
On Tuesday, gunmen allied with Fatah forced the closure of several schools throughout central Gaza, telling children and teachers to leave and saying the education process must be stopped. They did not explain why they closed the schools.
Fatah gunmen also blocked a major intersection in central Gaza on Tuesday, shouting "Down, down with Hamas," burning tires and garbage dumpsters and shooting in the air.
Violence erupted between the sides on Sunday, when the 3,500-strong Hamas militia confronted members of the Fatah-dominated security forces, who were protesting the government's inability to pay their wages.
Fatah militants responded by torching the Cabinet building in Ramallah and trashing Hamas offices throughout the West Bank. A string of running street battles killed eight people and wounded 100 others on Sunday.
In an effort to reduce friction Hamas pulled its militiamen out of Gaza's main streets on Monday and deployed them in their normal positions.
Hamas, which ousted Fatah in January parliamentary elections, formed the militia in April after losing a power struggle for control of the security forces with President Mahmoud Abbas, a Fatah leader elected separately last year.
But late Monday, gunbattles again erupted in the southern Gaza town of Rafah between Fatah gunmen and Hamas militiamen. Two people were killed and 14 others were wounded in the latest explosion of internal violence.
Fatah, in a show of strength against Hamas, has been enforcing a general strike in West Bank towns, while the Hamas-led government has ordered all ministries closed to protest attacks on government buildings.
Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas government, said Tuesday the only solution to the current round of violence is the establishment of a unity government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party. He condemned the strikes as violent and said they only fanned the tensions between the sides.
"I know there is suffering and there is a big problem," Hamad told Israel Radio in Hebrew. "When there is a strike, you don't go to work but you don't cause problems and riots all the time. This is not acceptable to us."
But the pleas for calm appear to be unheard for the time being, and the violence has further dampened hopes of a unity government.
Fatah gunmen and Palestinians loyal to Abbas' relatively moderate party are furious that Hamas has refused to moderate its positions in accordance with international demands, a move that would lead the international community to lift debilitating economic sanctions.
The so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators, led by the United States, has demanded Hamas renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept past peace agreements as a condition for sanctions to be lifted.
The Islamic group has so far refused to meet the demands even though the sanctions have made it impossible for the government to pay salaries to its 165,000 employees, plunging thousands of people into poverty and increasing unemployment in the cash-strapped West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In the Gaza town of Rafah late Monday, Fatah gunmen marched through the streets after evening prayers to protest the Hamas-led government and its militia, witnesses said. When they approached a militia post, a gunbattle broke out, and five people were wounded, one seriously, they said.
The fighting ended after local Hamas and Fatah officials called on their supporters to back down.
But minutes later, A new battle erupted in a Fatah stronghold across town that killed one bystander and another unidentified person and left nine other people with bullet and shrapnel wounds. Fatah officials said Hamas militiamen opened fire on Fatah supporters as they drove near a roadblock. Hamas said its militia came under fire from the car and fought back.
An earlier gunbattle erupted at Gaza City's main hospital Monday morning when relatives of one of Sunday's victims arrived to retrieve his body. Fatah gunmen accompanying them opened fire on Hamas militiamen patrolling the hospital. Patients and doctors ran for cover, but no one was hurt, hospital officials said.
In the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Fatah militants shot at the bodyguards of Hamas Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer as they rode in a government car, injuring two of them. Shaer was not present during the attack. Hospital officials said a Fatah militant was also injured.
In Jericho, a Fatah gunman trying to enforce the general strike shot a shopowner in the head, seriously wounding him, Fatah officials said. The wounded man was also a Fatah member, the officials said.
Violence between Fatah and Hamas loyalists plagued Gaza in the spring, but largely ended when Israel launched an offensive June 28 after Hamas-linked militants captured an Israeli soldier.
Also Monday, an Israeli airstrike on a building housing a metal workshop owned by a Hamas supporter in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis wounded three people, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli army said the strike targeted a building used to make weapons for militants.
Earlier, an Israeli gunboat shot and killed a Palestinian fisherman off the coast of Khan Younis, Palestinian officials said. The army said it was unaware of the incident. Israel has forced fishermen to remain close to shore since the offensive began.
The AP contributed to this report.
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