GAZA CITY, 20 December 2006 — A fierce gunbattle between rival Fatah and Hamas forces erupted outside Gaza’s main hospital yesterday, sparking a day of factional violence that left an already shaky truce in tatters, sent students diving for cover in their classrooms and brought life in much of Gaza to a standstill. Four people were killed and at least 18 were wounded in the violence, which swept away the remains of a cease-fire meant to end a week of fighting that has turned the Gaza Strip into a war zone.
Automatic gunfire echoed throughout the nearly empty streets of Gaza City, and a Fatah security installation was attacked with mortar fire. Masked Hamas gunmen set up makeshift checkpoints on main roads, forces from both sides took up strategic positions and terrified residents shut themselves indoors.
“It’s a real war. Since the morning, I’ve been praying to God that this is going to end,” said Suleiman Tuman, a 53-year-old shopkeeper who was trapped in his Gaza City grocery store by the fighting.
“Both sides used to fight the Israelis together. Now they are directing their weapons toward each other and we’re in the middle,” he said. “Both sides are responsible for this war.” Hamas and Fatah have been locked in a power struggle since the Islamic group defeated Fatah in legislative elections in January. Fatah, which seeks peace with Israel, controls the presidency, while Hamas, which is committed to Israel’s destruction, controls Parliament and the Palestinian Cabinet. The fighting began a week ago and intensified over the weekend, when President Mahmoud Abbas announced a plan to call early elections as a way of ending the political impasse. Hamas has condemned the plan as a coup. In all, 13 people have died in the clashes.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh planned a televised speech later yesterday. Seeking to ease the tensions, Haniyeh canceled a planned Hamas demonstration, Hamas officials said. Abbas also called for calm. “I call on everyone without exception to stop the shooting, the murdering and all related operations. I emphasize that dialogue is the only way to achieve our national goals,” he said in a statement.
Jordan’s King Abdallah and the head of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference attempted to intervene. Abdallah invited Abbas and Haniyeh to Amman to work out their differences, while OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu shuttled between the West Bank and Gaza talking to the rivals.
“We have some practical ideas to deal with the crisis situation,” he said after meeting Abbas. “There are some positive steps. We hope they will be taken.”
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group would consider the Jordanian king’s offer to mediate. Abbas’ office said he spoke with the king, but gave no further details.
The truce declaration had brought a brief ebb in the fighting. But after nightfall Monday, it escalated. The heavy fighting began early yesterday at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital shortly after a member of Fatah arrived with a broken leg.
— With input from agencies
