GAZA CITY: Three Hamas policemen and a member of a pro-Fatah clan were killed yesterday in the Gaza Strip in violence that could complicate Arab-backed efforts to reconcile rival Palestinian factions.
The latest bloodshed erupted when Hamas gunmen surrounded a neighborhood in Gaza City to arrest members of the Helles clan, who Hamas believes were behind bombings that killed five Hamas gunmen and a girl on Friday.
Members of the Helles clan, affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, later surrendered to Hamas policemen after clashes that wounded five Hamas officers and at least 40 people, a Hamas police officer said.
Hamas said it arrested hundreds of gunmen, including 10 people it believes were behind the bombings.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Abbas telephoned senior clan member Ahmed Helles to express solidarity. Abbas called Hamas’ campaign “unacceptable” and a blow to his call for national dialogue.
The violence could hamper Egyptian efforts aimed at reconciling Fatah with Hamas. Tension between the factions spiked last year when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip after routing pro-Abbas forces.
Hamas spokesman Islam Shahwan said one officer was killed by an explosive and two others were killed by a rocket-propelled grenade during fighting in Gaza City’s Shejaia suburb.
Ehab Al-Ghsain, a spokesman for Hamas’ Interior Ministry, said: “The Helles family has become a military force and its members have been attacking, abducting and even killing people. We must put an end to their attacks on innocent citizens.”
In the West Bank, controlled by Fatah, troops enforced a new ban on public assembly and expanded their arrest sweep beyond Hamas. Club-wielding security men arrested dozens of supporters of a nonviolent Islamic group, the Liberation Party, and broke up their rally in downtown Ramallah. An APTN cameraman was prevented by Abbas’ security forces from filming the beatings. Last week’s blasts touched off retaliatory crackdowns by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Fatah in the West Bank. Hundreds of Palestinians have since been arrested.
On Thursday, Abbas ordered his security forces to release all pro-Hamas detainees in the West Bank. Twenty were released on Friday but dozens more remained in custody, a security official in the West Bank said.
In the West Bank city of Nablus, Fatah activists kidnapped Mohammed Ghazal, a Hamas official, and released him hours later. Hamas said it released more than half of the hundreds of Fatah activists in its custody.
Hamas said 10 Fatah officials, including Ibrahim Abu Al-Naja, were among those released.
