GAZA: Seven people have been killed in the Gaza Strip in the deadliest clashes between Hamas and Fatah fighters in months

Record ID: 374687

  • Title: GAZA: Seven people have been killed in the Gaza Strip in the deadliest clashes between Hamas and Fatah fighters in months
  • Date: 1st January 2008
  • Summary: (BN10) GAZA CITY, GAZA (JANUARY 1, 2007) (REUTERS) ++DAY PICTURES++ VIEW OF HOUSE DESTROYED OVERNIGHT IN FACTIONAL FIGHTING PALESTINIANS WALKING THROUGH RUBBLE MAN LIFTING DEAD PEAGONS OUT OF RUBBLE
  • Embargoed: 16th January 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA4R3N93TIKMGD17XE3WIT5LMP5
  • Story Text: The fighting between the rival Palestinian factions began on Monday (Dececmber 31) when Fatah supporters gathered to mark their group's anniversary in defiance of a ban by the territory's Islamist rulers.
    Gunmen armed with automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar bombs fought it out in Gaza City. Smoke rose from burning cars and several houses were heavily damaged.
    Medical workers said four Hamas men and three Fatah supporters had been killed since Monday.
    Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June, routing the Fatah forces of President Mahmoud Abbas. Seven people were killed in November when a massive Fatah rally to mark the third anniversay of the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ended in gunfire.
    As the sun rose residents gathered in the streets and inside the destroyed house to examine the damage. They surrounded the charred vehicles and walked through the massive rubble.
    In the central Gaza town of Khan Younis, hundreds of mourners attended a funeral procession for Hamas members killed in fighting.
    The local police force of Hamas blamed Abbas's Fatah forces for the killing.

    "The Palestinian police and the interior ministry assure that those who were killed in Khan Younis, were attacked by Fatah members who shot them.
    We, the interior ministry, blame Fatah for this, and we will prosecute all people responsible. Fatah movement is responsible of the actions in Khan Yunis," Islam Shahwan, a spokesperson for Hamas's security force, told a news conference in Khan Younis.
    On Monday, Abbas urged Hamas to agree to early elections, cede control of the Gaza Strip and hold reconciliation talks with Fatah. The next Palestinian parliamentary election is due in 2010.
    Hamas swept a 2006 election but has been shunned by the West because of its refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by existing interim Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.
    Responding to Abbas's election call, Mahmoud al-Zahar, a Hamas leader, told a news conference: "An early ballot is completely rejected."
    Zahar said Abbas's offer of a dialogue would be credible only if the Palestinian Authority "freed all political detainees" and halted its "campaign of pursuit" against Hamas activists in the West Bank, where Fatah holds sway.
    Zahar said last elections have Hamas full rights to control Gazand the West Bank.

    "Hamas should control Gaza and West Bank, because Hamas is representing the vast majority of the legislative council and the government," Zahar said.
    Urging Abbas not to trust Israel or the United States, Zahar said: "If you extend a hand to Hamas, you will make history. But if you do the opposite, then history will show no mercy."

    "If there is a will, a real will for reconcilliation, we are ready ready to discuss that without preconditions," Zahar added.
    Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed at a U.S.-hosted summit in Annapolis, Maryland in November to restart Palestinian statehood talks try to reach a peace deal before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.
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