A shaky ceasefire between warring Palestinian factions in Gaza teetered on Sunday but then appeared to take hold as the guns, mortars and grenades fell silent for the first time in days. As quiet returned to Gaza City’s streets, residents ventured tentatively out of their homes amid the first bout of calm since Thursday. Officials from the ruling Hamas movement and President Mahmud Abbas’ rival Fatah faction sounded an optimistic note after meeting in Gaza City in a bid to bolster the fledgling ceasefire. “There has been visible progress toward applying the truce agreement between the two movements,” Fatah spokesman Abdel Hakim Awad said after the meeting. “The streets are almost empty of gunmen and we hope the agreement will hold so that peace and security can return.”
The rival factions also began releasing hostages, negotiators said, a key condition of the ceasefire which was agreed to Friday night by Abbas and exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. Despite those positive developments, however, the duelling factions remained perilously close to resuming hostilities.
Hamas accused security forces loyal to Fatah of violating the ceasefire by attempting to storm the home of a Hamas militant. “It seems that there is a group of putschists who don’t want a truce,” Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said. “We hold Fatah responsible for all that is happening.”