VARIOUS: Palestinians affiliated with Fatah granted crossing to Israel, after a day of internal clashes with Hamas in Gaza

Record ID: 375505

  • Title: VARIOUS: Palestinians affiliated with Fatah granted crossing to Israel, after a day of internal clashes with Hamas in Gaza
  • Date: 3rd August 2008
  • Summary: (W4) GAZA CITY, GAZA (AUGUST 2, 2008) (REUTERS) WIDE OF HAMAS INTERIOR MINISTER, SAEED SEYAM, ENTERING PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMAS INTERIOR MINISTER SAEED SEYAM SAYING: "Some members of the family (referring to the Helles clan) ran away. they ran towards the eastern borders of the Gaza strip, what we call Nahal OZ crossing. They handed themselves to the Is
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2008 13:00
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  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAD27C2NF5TRV5U3J41NZJ40STF
  • Story Text: Israel allows tens of Palestinians affiliated with Fatah and running away from Hamas to cross border to Israel, some in order to receive medical treatment after a day of clashes.
    Hamas concludes day of internal fighting.
    Three Hamas policemen and a member of a pro-Fatah clan were killed on Saturday (August 2) in the Gaza Strip, medics said, in violence that could complicate Arab-backed efforts to reconcile rival Palestinian factions.
    The fighting erupted when Hamas gunmen surrounded the Shejaia suburb in Gaza City to arrest 11 suspects, who the Islamist group believes were behind bombings that killed five Hamas gunmen and a girl last Friday.
    Members of the Helles clan, affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, surrendered to Hamas after clashes that also wounded five Hamas policemen and 80 other people, including 16 children, a Hamas official said.
    Clan leader Ahmed Helles and 149 of his men escaped to the border with Israel. An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers allowed all 150 men to cross the border and some were evacuated to Israeli hospitals for treatment.
    Speaking in Gaza City, Hamas Interior Minister Saeed Seyam, said policemen arrested dozens of gunmen, including four of the 11 men Hamas believes were behind the bombings, and confiscated large quantities of arms and explosives.

    "We stress that officials from Fatah are involved in the explosions and bombings," Seyam said, accusing pro-Fatah cells of inciting violence against the Hamas government. Fatah denies the charges.
    Seyam also condemned the escape of some of the Helles clan towards Israel.
    "Some members of the family ran away.... they chose to take haven within the occupation which means they are involved. And if they were not involved they would not have turned towards the occupation," Sayam said in a press conference in Gaza City.
    The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Abbas had telephoned Ahmed Helles, a senior Fatah representative in the Gaza Strip, to express solidarity. Abbas called Hamas's campaign "unacceptable" and a blow to his call for national dialogue.
    The violence could hamper Egyptian efforts to reconcile Fatah with Hamas. Tension between the two spiked last year after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from pro-Abbas forces.
    Last week's blasts touched off tit-for-tat crackdowns by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Fatah in the West Bank. Hundreds of Palestinians have since been arrested.
    On Thursday, Abbas ordered his Fatah-dominated security forces to release all pro-Hamas detainees in the West Bank. Twenty were released on Friday but dozens remained in custody, a security official in the occupied West Bank said.
    In the West Bank city of Nablus, Fatah militants kidnapped Mohammed Ghazal, a Hamas official, but released him hours later.
    Hamas said it had released more than half the hundreds of Fatah activists in its custody, including Ibrahim Abu an-Naja and nine other Fatah officials.
    Ends.
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