Despite the ceasefire agreement that was reached between Hamas and Fatah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ call
to end the fierce fighting, Palestinian sources reported Monday of continued gun battles between rival factions since the morning hours.
Escalation in violence. Fatah gunmen (Photo: AP)
In the afternoon exchanges of fire took place near Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar’s Gaza office. During one incident gunmen, apparently from Hamas, kidnapped two Palestinian security officers in response to the abduction of Hamas members by Fatah gunmen Sunday night.
A few hours earlier schoolchildren in Gaza clashed with the Palestinian government’s special security force; six students were injured. In another incident three people were injured during exchanges of fire that took place near the Palestinian security headquarters.
It was also reported that a Palestinian was killed by unidentified gunmen in Khan Younis, but it is not yet clear whether the incident was related to the tensions between Hamas and Fatah or part of an ongoing gang war.
Sunday evening Palestinian security sources reported that two mortar shells were fired at Abbas’ offices in the Gaza Strip and that six people were injured – five security officers and a 45-year-old passerby.
The Palestinian president was in Ramallah at the time and was not hurt.
Another mortar shell was fired at the office in the evening hours.
Palestinian Authority officials said they hoped the latest escalation would not result in the collapse of the ceasefire; both Fatah and Hamas said they remain committed to the truce as each accused the other of breaching it.
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