Warring Hamas and Fatah factions in Gaza declared a cease-fire

cherokee · 01-29-07, 07:50 PM

I'm still waiting for them to blame Israel for the 60 plus dead from their infighting...

Read the entire story, you can just feel the love....

Hamas-Fatah cease-fire reported - Focus on Israel/Palestinians - MSNBC.com

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Warring Hamas and Fatah factions in Gaza declared a cease-fire early Tuesday and said it would take effect within hours.

Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas said the truce would go into effect at 3 a.m. local time (8 p.m. ET). He spoke after a meeting between Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and a representative of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, with the participation of Egyptian mediators. They flanked him during his statement.

Zahar said clashes that have taken more than 60 lives are to halt, security forces are to return to their bases and suspects in killings are to be handed over. As he spoke, gunfire could still be heard in Gaza City.

Four people were killed and large parts of Gaza City were plunged into darkness overnight Sunday.

Saudi King Abdullah called the factional fighting a “shame” that has undermined the Palestinian cause.

“Our hearts bleed for what is happening in the land of our Palestinian brothers,” he said. “This great atrocity with all its unjustified and weak reasons has stained the Palestinian’s honorable national struggle.”

Verging on civil war
Information Minister Youssef Rizka of Hamas earlier warned that the two sides are close to civil war.

The fighting, which has claimed more than 60 lives since December, erupted in Gaza after the collapse of coalition talks between Hamas, which controls parliament and the government, and moderate President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Fatah. Abbas has threatened to call early elections, a step Hamas has denounced as a coup attempt.

The violence in Gaza often appears random, but some patterns are emerging, particularly in the latest round, which began Thursday and has so far left 30 dead.

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Hamas has repeatedly targeted police compounds in recent days in an apparent effort to seize control of the Abbas-allied security forces. Hamas gunmen also have kidnapped several senior security commanders loyal to Abbas, but have released them.

Fatah gunmen, in turn, were drawing out Hamas fighters across the Gaza Strip, in what appeared to be a battle of attrition. From Sunday afternoon to daybreak Monday, gun battles raged in the southern town of Khan Younis, in Gaza City and in the north of the coastal strip.

Some of the most intense fighting took place outside the Gaza City headquarters of the Preventive Security Service, which a decade ago led a crackdown on Hamas and is fiercely loyal to Abbas. Hamas gunmen fired dozens of mortar shells at the compound, drawing return fire through the night.

The compound is located in a heavily populated area, surrounded by apartment high-rises, and frightened residents tried to stay away from their windows to avoid getting hit by stray bullets.

They also had to do without electricity — the western side of Gaza City was plunged into darkness after gunmen knocked out the local transformer.

Boys kidnapped
Elsewhere in Gaza City, Hamas gunmen kidnapped the teenage son and nephew of Col. Khamis al-Ajous, head of Preventive Security, on Sunday. The kidnappers threatened to kill the two boys within three hours unless Hamas fighters seized by Fatah-allied security forces were released. By Monday morning, the boys had still not been released.