GAZA (Reuters) - At least 15 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday -- eight in one incident -- in the deadliest fighting between Hamas and Fatah since the rivals formed a unity government to end bloodshed threatening to spill into civil war. Gunbattles raged into the night as masked fighters vied for control of the Gaza streets. Hamas fully deployed its armed wing in a sign it was preparing for wider conflict.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas convened an emergency meeting of faction leaders in a bid to "put an end to the fighting." Egypt and Saudi Arabia pressed Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction to rein in their forces.
A Fatah spokesman said Hamas gunmen had killed eight members of Abbas's Presidential Guard in an attack near Karni Crossing, Gaza's main commercial entry point into Israel.The Fatah-affiliated guardsmen were en route to help comrades under assault by Hamas at a training base near the crossing when Israeli forces across the frontier opened fire at them, according to the spokesman, Tawfiq Abu Khoussa.
"Some of the vehicles overturned and some of the men were wounded. The forces retreated but they were ambushed by Hamas gunmen, who finished them off," he said.An unidentified Fatah security man who said he had been wounded in the incident told Palestinian television: "They came and shot the wounded. They left me, believing I was dead."
Hamas's armed wing denied the allegation, blaming the deaths on Israel and accusing Fatah of killing one of its commanders earlier on Tuesday. The Israeli military said it had fired at two gunmen who approached the border fence, hitting one of them. Raising tensions further, Hamas said one of its senior figures was "executed" at a checkpoint manned by Fatah fighters. Fatah had no immediate comment.
...AP's take
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas gunmen riddled a Fatah police jeep with gunfire at close range Tuesday, killing eight policemen in the most ruthless round yet of factional fighting, pushing the Palestinian unity government closer to collapse.
Gunmen in black ski masks controlled the streets and terrified residents huddled in their homes.Israel, too, was briefly drawn into the battle. A total of 13 people were killed in Tuesday's fighting.
In the West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for the immediate implementation of a security plan that would put all rival forces under one command. However, his call is unlikely to be heeded: the fighting made it clear the Hamas-Fatah power struggle was never really resolved, despite formation of the unity government in March.
This week's fighting was the worst since Hamas and Fatah agreed to share power in February. In all, 21 people have been killed and dozens wounded in three days of street fighting.
In the deadliest battle, Hamas gunmen fired rockets, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars early Tuesday at a training base for Fatah forces guarding the Karni cargo crossing with Israel. U.S. security experts had helped set up the base to improve security at Karni. After the initial attack, Hamas fired on Fatah reinforcements rushing to the scene, and one of the jeeps carrying Fatah fighters veered off the road and crashed. Hamas gunmen surrounded the vehicle and riddled it with gunfire, said one witness, who works in a nearby factory. "It was unbelievable. May God help us," said the man, who gave only his first name, Jamil, out of fear for his safety. Eight men were killed, hospital officials said. Fatah security men also came under fire as they tried to move the bodies away from the overturned jeep.
Two Israeli helicopter gunships and three tanks moved toward the area, and Hamas fighters quickly withdrew. At one point, a major in the Palestinian Presidential Guard was killed by Israeli army fire as he tried to leave the crossing, security officials said. Israeli military officials said Israel has no intention of letting itself be drawn into the fighting.
The current fighting had many of the elements of previous Hamas-Fatah clashes: combatants kidnapped scores of rivals, set up roadblocks to search cars, took over rooftops of high-rises and often fired randomly in crowded residential areas. Around Abbas' seaside compound in Gaza City, security forces searched cars and inspected motorists' ID cards. They gave those with beards — a possible sign of Hamas support — an extra close look.
Both sides have become more ruthless this time, with Fatah accused of an execution-style killing of two Hamas supporters Sunday and Hamas ambushing the Fatah jeep Tuesday. This might make it more difficult to negotiate a cease-fire and revive the coalition.
At the core of the fighting is the unresolved power struggle between Hamas, which won parliamentary elections last year, and Abbas' Fatah, which has dominated Palestinian politics for four decades. Squeezed by an international aid boycott, Hamas realized it could govern alone and brought Fatah into the government. But the two sides never worked out their differences, particularly over security. While the power-sharing deal largely halted factional fighting for three months, both sides continued to smuggle weapons through tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border, preparing for the next round.
The spark for the new fighting was deployment of 3,000 Fatah-allied members of the security forces in Gaza City last week, over Hamas' objections. Hamas has also bristled at Abbas' appointment of former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan as his national security adviser.
Both sides accused each other of waging a carefully orchestrated campaign to destroy the other. The National Security, a force loyal to Abbas, said Hamas is leading a military coup against the Palestinian security establishment. A Hamas spokesman, Abdel Latif Kanuah, said Fatah is involved in a U.S.-backed plot to overthrow Hamas, referring to U.S.-backing for Abbas' elite forces, the Presidential Guards.
Despite the unity government's shortcomings — and its failure to end the international embargo imposed on Hamas — it's unlikely Abbas will dissolve it and call early elections. Hamas would consider that an attempt to steal its election victory and likely oppose it violently.
