GAZA CITY, 13 December 2006 — Four Palestinians were wounded yesterday when Hamas gunmen opened fire on demonstrators protesting the killing of the sons of an intelligence officer in a drive-by shooting on Monday.
The killing of the three boys, whose car was riddled with bullets as they rode to school in Gaza City, sparked widespread rage, grief and soul-searching in the Palestinian areas. Demonstrations erupted throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, children stayed home from school and Palestinian security forces allied to Fatah party forced stores to close.
Witnesses said that during a protest in Khan Younis, some schoolchildren who had joined the demonstration, threw stones at Hamas militiamen. That provoked them to open fire, injuring four people including two Palestine Authority security officials.
Hamas and Fatah officials later traded accusations. On its website, Hamas said armed men of Fatah and Palestinian Authority had raided official and public buildings.
President Mahmoud Abbas earlier ordered his security forces to deploy across Gaza after the killing of the three boys and their driver.
Tension between Fatah and Hamas has mounted since unidentified gunmen shot dead the children of Bahaa Baloushe on Monday. It was the first time children have been targeted in such an attack.
A senior Fatah official, Hussein Al-Sheikh, said the Hamas government bore responsibility. “Of course people very close to Hamas, to say the least, are behind the killings. We hold the government and the interior minister directly responsible,” Sheikh said. “These are mafias, killer gangs,” he added, referring to the perpetrators of the drive-by shooting.
Senior Hamas lawmaker Mushir Al-Masri angrily denied the movement had anything to do with the attack. “It seems some Fatah leaders are exploiting the blood of innocent children to earn political gains. We hold those leaders fully responsible for the grave consequences that may result from the fabrication and lies they are spreading.”
Besides internal political unrest, Gaza is riven with clan fighting and a surge in crime following a Western aid embargo on the Hamas government that has deepened poverty.
— Additional input from agencies
