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Gunmen in the PA
Photo: AP
Photo: AP
Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh
Photo: AP

Man killed, abductions resume in Gaza

Violent clashes between rival PA factions resume in Gaza; Hamas says Fatah sniper killed group member in Jabalia

Gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip shot dead a Hamas activist Friday after a night of tit-for- tat killings and kidnappings allegedly carried out by the Islamic militant group and its Fatah rivals.

 

Hamas, which blamed Fatah for the latest shooting, said a sniper firing from a house in the Jabalia refugee camp shot a Hamas man in a loudspeaker van who had been calling local residents to join a rally the group planned for later in the day.

 

Hamas gunmen later surrounded the house of the Fatah member from which the sniper shot came, calling on him to surrender, Hamas said. Fatah officials say the gunmen fired at the house and hurled grenades.

 

Shots were fired on Friday at the Gaza City home of Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas, but he was not there at the time, an aide said. Gunmen also fired at the house Thursday night while al-Zahar was inside, but he was unharmed.

 

The latest factional violence erupted ahead of a new round of coalition government talks between Hamas and Fatah.

 

Fatah is led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who hopes the talks will produce a government moderate enough to induce the West to lift crushing economic sanctions it imposed after Hamas took power in March.

 

Western powers hope the sanctions will pressure Hamas into disarming and recognizing Israel's right to exist, but so far, Hamas has resisted.

 

Earlier Friday, Hamas militants killed a wounded Fatah fighter in a gangland-style slaying, Fatah officials said.

 

'Avoid Palestinian bloodshed'

On Thursday night, attackers killed a Hamas activist in a bombing the group blamed on Fatah. Both those attacks were also in Jabalia.

 

Fatah said a Hamas force firing rockets launched a predawn attack on the home of Nabil Jarjir, a member of the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, initially wounding him. As neighbors were taking the injured man to hospital the Hamas raiders stopped the car and killed him with a shot to the head, Fatah said.

 

After that attack local Al-Aqsa official Samih Madhoun vowed revenge. "Those who executed Jarjir will be punished," he said.

 

On Thursday night a roadside bomb was detonated as a squad of Hamas militiamen drove by. One militant was killed in that attack and seven were wounded, Hamas and hospital officials said. Hamas blamed Fatah for the bombing.

 

Earlier, Hamas charged that a Fatah unit fired a rocket at a house belonging to a commander of the Hamas force in the nearby town of Beit Hanoun.

 

A Hamas official, on condition of anonymity, said that during the night Fatah gunmen kidnapped seven Hamas members, while Hamas seized four Fatah members believed to be behind the roadside bombing. Fatah said six of its men had been snatched.

 

Hamas was scheduled to hold rallies in northern Gaza later Friday to mark one year since it ousted Fatah from power in parliamentary elections and to protest the latest attacks on its men. 

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.26.07, 15:24
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