Gunfights in Gaza Signal Another Broken Ceasefire ; WORLD

Jun 11, 01:55 AM

Current Headlines: By Eric Silver

The latest in a series of fragile ceasefires between rival Palestinian militias collapsed last night with the Islamist Hamas and more pragmatic Fatah accusing each other of brutal murders in Gaza City. Witnesses reported automatic weapons firing and ambulances rushing wounded to hospital.

Hamas, the dominant parliamentary party, accused Fatah gunmen of seizing Imam Mohammed al-Rafati, a respected preacher, from his house near the Islamic University and leaving him severely wounded. After the imam was taken to hospital, they are said to have stormed the ward and shot him.

Fatah, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, in turn accused Islamist militants of kidnapping Mohammed al-Swerky, an officer in the Force 17 presidential guard, and throwing him from the 15th floor of a tower block.

It was the fiercest fighting between Hamas and Fatah since Egypt brokered a truce nearly a month ago. At least two combatants, including a Hamas district commander, were killed and about 40 wounded in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Arab journalists reported that hundreds of fighters took up positions on street corners and rooftops, pounding each other with grenade and gunfire. Local hospitals said nine of the wounded were in critical condition.

Later, Israeli warplanes struck an office of the radical Islamic Jihad in Gaza City and a Fatah weapons-making workshop in nearby Sheikh Radwan. Palestinian militants fired three mortar shells at the Erez terminal, the main passenger crossing for Palestinians and international officials between Gaza and Israel. No casualties were reported.

The air strikes came hours after four Palestinian fighters in a white Jeep infiltrated Israel's heavily fortified border on Saturday through the now-disused Kissufim crossing, which served Jewish settlers before they were evacuated from Gaza in 2005.

Israeli troops drove off the intruders. A 19-year-old member of Islamic Jihad was killed. Abu Ahmed, a spokesman, said they planned to abduct a soldier.

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