Funeral of 11-year-old boy in Gaza
Photo: AFP
Gaza death toll rises to 30
Four Palestinians killed in Gaza after midnight on Monday, bringing death toll to 30
Three Palestinians believed to be Hamas operatives and a Fatah member of the Palestinian security forces were killed Monday after midnight in seperate clashes, bringing the death toll to 30 since violent confrontations erupted between the two rival factions in the Gaza Strip last Thursday.
The Fatah man, identified as Mohammad Afandi, was killed in Gaza City on Monday morning.
Sparse gun battles were reported across the tiny coastal strip overnight as the standoff between the governing Hamas faction and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party took a turn for the worst.
On Sunday, four people were killed in the early morning hours in exchanges of fire between the two factions. Violent clashes erupted anew in the afternoon in Khan Younis where a Hamas operative and a civilian were killed.
Palestinian medical sources in Gaza say most of the 29 victims killed since Thursday are Hamas members.
Fatah has been trying to boost its military presence in the Gaza Strip, widely believed to be a Hamas stronghold, in an attempt to counterbalance a Hamas-faithful security force created by the Islamic group in January last year when it won the general elections.
Hamas refuses to pull out its armed forces from the street and resisted demands that its security force be dismantled and its members integrated in the Fatah-dominated security forces.
Egyptian and Saudi mediators continue to mediate between the rival factions who agreed to attend reconciliation talks in the Saudi city of Mecca following an invitation from King Abdullah Bin-Abdel-Aziz.
