Hamas, Fatah Fighting Spreads in Gaza Strip
Jerusalem
13 June 2007
Fighting between the Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah is spreading in the Gaza Strip. At least eight Palestinians are reported killed, bringing to more than 60 the number of people killed in the past few days. VOA's Jim Teeple has more from our Jerusalem bureau.
Fighting spread from Gaza City to the central part of the Gaza Strip, where Hamas militants seized a key Fatah checkpoint on the main north-south road.
Fatah legislators meeting in the West Bank have suspended their participation in the Palestinian unity government. Azzam Ahmed, who heads the Fatah parliamentary faction, says some members of Hamas are against unity.
Ahmed says Fatah will continue to work for Palestinian national unity, but if the fighting does not stop, Fatah will pull out of the government.
Hamas militants on late Tuesday captured a key Fatah security compound in the northern Gaza Strip and appear to have consolidated their hold on the area, issuing ultimatums to Fatah to disarm. Reporter Mohammed Dawass says Fatah militants are not likely to accept Hamas domination in the area.
"Well if this continues I do not think Fatah will continue to just stand still," he said. "They are going to react and there will be a reaction and a reaction and things will just get worse."
Civilians in Gaza spent a third day inside their homes as businesses, schools and public facilities remained closed.
A demonstration of about 1,000 people called to protest the fighting was fired on by gunmen. A sixteen-year-old boy was killed in the incident and several others wounded. U.N. officials say three of their five food centers and nearly half of their health clinics in Gaza have been shut down because of the violence.
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