GAZA CITY, 4 February 2007 — Warring Palestinian factions continued to battle in the Gaza Strip yesterday, shattering an embryonic cease-fire and ignoring pleas for calm. At least 10 people were wounded in gunbattles across Gaza, and another 60 were kidnapped at makeshift checkpoints manned by militants from the rival factions.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh issued an urgent appeal for both sides to respect the battered truce, which was declared Friday by his Islamist Hamas movement, and President Mahmoud Abbas after clashes killed 25 people in just 24 hours. “I renew my call to all our people for an immediate cease-fire and for the gunmen to withdraw from the streets and for the security services to return to their bases,” Haniyeh told journalists at his home in the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.
Even as gunbattles continued to rattle through Gaza’s streets, the dueling factions met again and renewed their commitment to the truce — the second cease-fire to collapse in a week. International appeals for an end to the bloodshed rang out with the United Nations warning that the upsurge in violence was making it “extremely difficult for us to fulfill our humanitarian mandates.” “The implications of this for a population already facing extreme hardship are grave,” the UN statement said.
Fighting in Gaza City between the governing Hamas movement and Abbas’ secular Fatah faction included fierce skirmishes near the headquarters of the Fatah-dominated security services where five people were wounded, medical sources said. At least two people were wounded in clashes along Gaza City’s seafront, and a gunfight outside Gaza’s Shifa hospital wounded two people, one of them seriously, a medical source said.
Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan blamed Fatah for “violating” the truce by launching grenades at the Information Ministry and opening fire on the Agriculture Ministry. At least 50 Hamas members and 10 Fatah members were kidnapped at makeshift checkpoints, security sources said.
Explosions rocked the city where the once-bustling streets remained deserted after days of fighting, save for nervous-eyed militants manning fortified positions amid the sporadic rattle of gunfire. In the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis, one person was wounded when gunmen set fire to the campus of the Al-Qods University, which has strong ties to Fatah.
