GAZA CITY: Hamas security forces in Gaza announced the release of 30 Fatah prisoners, Ihab Al-Ghussin, a spokesman of the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in the Gaza Strip, said yesterday.
Ghussin, said “this is a goodwill gesture to mark Eid Al- Fitr and bolster Egyptian reconciliation efforts.” He added that other Fatah leaders will be also released soon. Mohammed Al-Qedwa, who was governor of the Gaza Strip before Hamas seized the territory from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction in fighting in June 2007, was among those freed. He had been in detention for three months. Other prominent detainees were Hazem abu Shanab, Munzer Al Bardwil, Mohammed Al-Masri and Anwar Ghunim. It was unclear whether governor of Khan Younis Osama Al-Fara was among those freed yesterday. Al-Fara was named by Fatah as a member of the movement’s delegation to Cairo talks but Hamas police kept him along with other Fatah members in prison. Earlier yesterday, Ahmed Bahar, acting speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), called on President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas deposed Prime Minister Ismail Hnaiya to release all political prisoners held by both sides in Gaza and the West Bank before Eid Al-Fitr.
Bahar stressed that his call was aimed to pave the road for Egypt’s efforts to broker a national dialogue between Hamas and Fatah. The latest crackdown on Fatah movement was carried out after a car bomb on July 25, which killed five Hamas fighters and a small girl. Hamas blamed Fatah for the blast and began rounding up Fatah activists.
