GAZA CITY (Agencies)
Nine Palestinians were killed and dozens hurt in battles in Gaza City between forces of the rival Hamas and Fatah movements on Saturday, prompting Israel to open its border to fleeing Fatah members.
The fighting erupted when Hamas gunmen surrounded the Shejaia suburb in Gaza City to arrest 11 suspects, who the Islamist group believes were behind bombings that killed five Hamas gunmen and a girl last Friday.
Members of the Helles clan, affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, surrendered to Hamas after clashes that also wounded five Hamas policemen and 90 other people, including 16 children, a Hamas official said.
Clan leader Ahmed Helles and 179 of his men escaped to the border with Israel. An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers allowed all 180 men to cross the border and some were evacuated to Israeli hospitals for treatment.
Hamas Interior Minister Saeed Seyam, speaking in Gaza City, said police arrested dozens of gunmen, including four of the 11 men Hamas believes were behind the bombings, and confiscated large quantities of arms and explosives.
"We can confirm that Fatah are implicated in the bombings," Seyam said, accusing pro-Fatah cells of inciting violence against the Hamas government. Fatah denies the charges.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri charged that members of the Helis family and other unidentified associates had "fired mortar rounds at the Hamas police as well as a rocket at Gaza City" from inside the Shujwa house.
Several members of the Helis clan "are responsible" for the deadly July 25 bomb attack and Hamas is determined to round up the suspects, Abu Zuhri told AFP. |
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Fatah denies charges But Adel Helis, a Fatah leader, denied clan members opened fire on Hamas.
"These are lies. We never fired rockets or mortar rounds. Hamas is the one committing crimes. We have asked all the Palestinian factions, Islamists and nationalists, to use their influence so that these crimes cease," he said.
Clan leader Ahmad Helis told AFP that Hamas militants "laid siege to our house, firing mortar rounds... targeting our women and our children."
The two main Palestinian factions have been deeply divided since Hamas expelled Abbas's security forces from Gaza in a week of bloody street battles in June 2007, cleaving the territories into rival entities.
Abbas himself called Ahmed Helis "to express his support and denounce the Hamas attack," according to a statement by Abbas's office.
The Palestinian president also told Helis that "Hamas's attacks undermine my call for national dialogue between Palestinian factions."
Shortly after the fighting subsided, dozens of Fatah members, including Ahmed and Adel Helis, fled to the Nahal Oz crossing with Israel in a bid to escape to the West Bank city of Ramallah, home to Abbas's headquarters.
Israel allowed a total of 150 Palestinians who put down their guns to cross as a "humanitarian measure," an army spokesman said. The wounded were taken to hospital and the rest were transported to Ramallah.
Israel's Magen David Adom medical services treated six Palestinians for serious wounds and three more who were lightly injured, spokesman Zaki Heller said.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak authorized the rare measure following a personal request from Abbas, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Egypt, a senior defense official told AFP.
Israel closed all of its crossings with Gaza following Hamas's violent takeover, but has agreed to allow basic products in under a June ceasefire. |
