This story has been updated......
Gaza battle rages on after 25 dead
POSTED: 7:21 a.m. EST, January 28, 2007
cnn.com
GAZA CITY (AP) -- Gunmen from the rival Hamas and Fatah movements battled each other in Gaza Sunday, continuing an increasingly bloody power struggle over the Palestinian government that left the coastal strip littered with dead over the weekend, while civilians cowered in their homes.
An explosion early in the morning rocked the home of a bodyguard to Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan, but the man was not in the building and no casualties were reported. At least eight people were wounded in exchanges of fire between the sides overnight, Palestinian security officials said.
The latest round of fighting began late Thursday after a Hamas activist was killed in a bombing and by Saturday night 25 Palestinians had been killed, with at least 76 wounded and efforts to forge a coalition government had ground to a standstill.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, of Hamas, and a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, of Fatah, both appealed for calm Saturday.
In a clear jab at the moderate Abbas, Haniya criticized "troublemakers who are trying to veer away from the path of our people" by receiving "dirty American funding and arms." The White House is seeking some $85 million to help bolster Abbas' forces.
The violence has been fueled by Abbas' pledge to call early elections if the talks between Hamas and Fatah fail. Abbas, who is traveling in Europe, said this week he would move forward with his election plan if the coalition talks fail to produce results within three weeks.
Hamas, which defeated Fatah in parliamentary elections last year, opposes a new vote.
Gaza's Al Azhar University called off exams scheduled for Saturday, and the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, which oversees several security forces, told its employees to go home.Streets in the hardest-hit neighborhoods were deserted, and only bakeries and grocery stores opened for business. Gaza City's main outdoor market was closed.
Late Saturday night, a 12-year-old boy was killed and two people were wounded in the northern Gaza Strip during a shootout between Hamas and Fatah gunmen, witnesses and hospital officials said. One of the Hamas men was killed in the gun battle, hospital officials said.
The boy's father, Baher Abu El-Karaya, a local Fatah leader, was injured in the battle. From his hospital bed, he told the Associated Press that Hamas gunmen attacked his home.
Two men were also killed in a car explosion north of Gaza City, Palestinian security officials said. The identities of the men were not immediately known.
A man was killed in a gun battle Saturday near the Islamic University and in a firefight elsewhere in the city, a Palestinian policeman was killed. Hamas gunmen fired mortars at the Abbas-allied Preventive Security Service headquarters and at the home of the force's chief, Rashid Abu Shbak, officials said.
Stormed mosque
Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha accused Fatah loyalists of storming a mosque near the security headquarters Friday and executing a senior Hamas activist inside while he was reading the Quran, the Muslim holy book. On Saturday, blood stains were still visible on the mosque's carpet and the bathroom tiles.
Fatah denied it had stormed the mosque, but said Hamas gunmen had used the building as a base for attacking the security service compound.
At another Gaza City mosque, Hamas activists hung posters with photos of Hamas supporters killed or wounded in the fighting. "These are the criminal activities of the pro-Zionist, American criminals," the caption read, in reference to Fatah.
Mediators from two small factions, meanwhile, tried to win the release of hostages taken by the two sides. Late Saturday, seven Hamas activists and four Fatah members were freed in the southern town of Khan Younis, officials said.
Tensions have been high since Hamas swept parliamentary elections in January 2006, ending four decades of Fatah rule. Those tensions have frequently erupted into violence, killing some 50 people in Gaza since early December.
In its election campaign, Hamas promised to root out corruption and improve social services. But the Hamas-led government has been paralyzed by an international boycott and accomplished little on its agenda.
Israel and Western donors have cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the Palestinian government, demanding Hamas renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. Hamas has rejected the conditions, despite deepening poverty in the West Bank and Gaza caused by the sanctions.
Seeking a way out of the crisis, Abbas has called on Hamas to join Fatah in a moderate coalition government. Abbas, who was elected separately, hopes a moderate platform will get the sanctions lifted and allow him to restart peace talks with Israel.
Both Fatah and Hamas officials said late Friday that unity talks would be suspended until the fighting ends. Both sides blamed each other for the breakdown. |
