3 killed in renewed violence in Gaza

Ban Hammer · January 3, 2007

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Three Palestinians were killed Wednesday in a resurgence of factional violence in Gaza, leading to fears an already fragile truce between the rival Hamas and Fatah factions would completely collapse.

The latest fighting came two days after Fatah and Hamas militants carried out a series of kidnappings and engaged in gunbattles in violation of a mid-December truce between the two groups, which are vying for control of the Palestinian government.

Rival gunmen poured into the streets of the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya after a 25-year-old militant from President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party was shot and killed. A woman was shot in the head and seriously wounded in the ensuing gunbattle, and 12 other people were moderately hurt, hospital and security officials said.

Later in the afternoon, a group of gunmen ambushed Fatah-allied Palestinian security officers in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, blasting their police car with bullets and a rocket-propelled grenade, and killing two of the officers, according to witnesses.

The security officers were trying to take another officer to the hospital after he was wounded in an earlier clash, Fatah officials said in a statement. The officers had stormed a house where they believed a kidnapped colleague was being held, it said.

Fatah officials blamed both attacks on Hamas, the Islamic group that controls the Palestinian parliament and Cabinet.

Late Monday, clashes in the Jebaliya refugee camp near Gaza City broke a weeklong lull in fighting between the two groups. In the past few weeks, 17 people have been killed in the internal fighting, leading to fears of civil war.

Talks between Fatah and Hamas on forming a national unity government broke down in November, fueling the escalation in violence. Abbas has since threatened to call an early election, which Hamas said it would boycott, calling it a coup attempt.

Abbas wants to resume peace talks with Israel, while Hamas rejects the existence of the Jewish state.

Meanwhile, aides to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said he plans to cut short a tour of Arab nations to return to Gaza on Thursday. He had been scheduled to travel to Jordan, which has offered to host a meeting between Haniyeh and Abbas in an effort to defuse the tensions between their factions.

Both Haniyeh and Abbas have agreed in principle to such a meeting, but no date has been announced.

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Edited January 3, 2007 by charlesandnessa