GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli planes pounded Hamas targets and rival Palestinian factions exchanged bursts of automatic weapons fire outside Gaza City's Islamic University on Friday, as a volatile mix of Israeli strikes and Palestinian infighting plunged Gaza deeper into chaos.
Five Palestinians were killed in a single airstrike by Israel. Israel said the strike was in response to Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel — a campaign that persisted on Friday with Hamas firing three rockets at the town of Sderot. Three people in the town were injured by shrapnel and several others were treated for shock. The sound of gunfire and explosions from fighting between Hamas and Fatah rang out for the sixth straight day in Gaza. Outside the Islamic University — a Hamas stronghold — one person was wounded from the exchange of fire, but it was not immediately known from which side.
The fighting largely died down later in the day after Fatah and Hamas fighters took up positions around the university. Earlier, the office of the university's president, Kamelen Shaath, was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades, according to Hamas.
Shaath appealed for an immediate halt to the violence.
"Universities must be outside the circle of violence and I appeal to the president and all the wise people on both sides to try and spare the university the agony of this fight," he said.
In six days of mayhem, 47 Palestinians have died in infighting and another 17 were killed by Israeli strikes. The latest casualty was a 40-year-old Palestinian fisherman named Samir Amodi, who was shot in the head by a sniper in Gaza City's harbor.
Israeli aircraft fired missiles east of Gaza City on Friday, killing five Palestinians, at least three of them Hamas militants, Hamas and local doctors said. Six people were wounded.
The military said the target was a Hamas headquarters building. Three other strikes followed, including an afternoon hit on a Hamas military building near the central Gazan town of Deir al Balah. No casualties were reported, most likely because Hamas had ordered its people to evacuate installations considered targets. But the group's infrastructure suffered further damage.
The intensity of Palestinian street battles has waned since a peak two days ago. But the latest cease-fire was not holding. Shots rang out in many areas, and gunmen who had promised to withdraw from the streets were still manning roadblocks and positions on rooftops.
"Our retaliation for (Fatah's) crimes is going to be beyond their imagination," Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas's military wing, told The Associated Press.
Gen. Jamal Kayed, Fatah's security commander in Gaza, said his group had already begun implementing the cease-fire but claimed Hamas was not willing to follow suit.
Walid al-Awad, a member of a committee set up to implement the cease-fire, said his team worked late into the night to get the sides to withdraw, but to no avail.
"Nothing has been implemented, and I have warned both sides that this a time bomb that is sabotaging our efforts," al-Awad said.
The fighting between Hamas and Fatah has all but destroyed their two-month-old power-sharing deal and brought them close to all-out civil war.
By most accounts, Hamas' performance in the latest round of internal fighting has been superior to Fatah's, with greater discipline and more motivated fighters.
Although Israel said it was not taking sides, the airstrikes did make it harder for Hamas gunmen to move around and that could help Fatah's fighters.
Hamas commanders instructed their fighters on walkie-talkies to avoid riding in vehicles, talking on cell phones or gathering in large groups — and to evacuate buildings known by both Israel and Fatah as Hamas hangouts.
The Israeli strikes have introduced a new layer of violence and uncertainty. A senior army official, speaking on condition of anonymity because no official decision has been made, said Israel had no immediate plans for a major ground offensive to halt rocket fire.
There was no sign of any Israeli military buildup that would indicate plans for a serious intervention, though a few tanks and soldiers moved just across the Gaza border on Thursday.
"Israel will take every defensive measure to stop these rocket attacks. We will defend our citizens against the rockets, against the weapons, against the Iranian-backed Hamas who are attacking Israel," government spokeswoman Miri Eisen said.
Analysts said Israeli policy makers were probably trying to walk a fine line to avoid uniting Palestinian factions into a common front against Israel. But Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a retired general, said Israel could not stand idly by while Palestinian rockets continued.
"We have to show them one thing, that the moment you fire, we shall return fire," he told Israel Radio.
Hamas Web sites, radio and TV carried accusations that forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were working with Israel — a charge dismissed as "absurd" by a Fatah spokesman.
On Friday, Hamas TV named three Fatah security chiefs who it said were in secret contact with "foreign" security personnel to exchange information on Palestinian militant groups.
"They are deep into treason, and we will deal with them accordingly," the broadcast said. The TV did not specify which foreigners, but Fatah forces affiliated with Abbas have received advice and training from the U.S.
With his aides citing security concerns, Abbas canceled a Thursday trip to Gaza for talks with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was under intense public pressure to respond to the Hamas barrage, and he visited Sderot late Thursday.
"I am handling this crisis in order to remove this threat as much as possible," his office quoted him as saying.
Olmert is fighting for political survival in the face of plummeting popularity and harsh criticism of his handling of last summer's war in Lebanon. He probably would be wary of a major ground offensive in Gaza, fearful of another inconclusive effort.
On Friday, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni briefed members of the diplomatic corps in Israel on the latest developments and showed them video of a Sderot school damaged by rocket fire.
Source : news.yahoo.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment