GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Gunmen from the rival Hamas and Fatah movements battled in Gaza City for a third straight day Saturday, firing mortars and grenades in clashes that killed seven people in the increasingly bloody power struggle over the Palestinian government.
The deaths brought to 25 the number of Palestinians killed since late Thursday, with at least 68 people wounded and efforts to forge a coalition government at a standstill.
The latest fighting, which started late Thursday after a Hamas activist was killed in a bombing, has been among the deadliest in nearly two months of clashes.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of Hamas, and a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, of Fatah, both appealed for calm. But after a brief lull, fighting flared up again.
In a clear jab at the moderate Abbas, Haniyeh criticized “troublemakers who are trying to veer away from the path of our people” by receiving “dirty American funding and arms.” The White House is seeking some $85 million to help bolster Abbas’ forces.
The violence has been fueled by Abbas’ pledge to call early elections if the talks between Hamas and Fatah fail. Abbas, who is traveling in Europe, said this week he would move forward with his election plan if the coalition talks fail to produce results within three weeks.
Hamas, which defeated Fatah in parliamentary elections last year, opposes a new vote.
Streets in the hardest-hit neighborhoods were deserted Saturday, and only bakeries and grocery stores opened for business. Gaza City’s main outdoor market was closed. Al Azhar University called off exams scheduled for Saturday, and the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, which oversees several security forces, told its employees to go home.
Late Saturday night, a 12-year-old boy was killed and two people were wounded in the northern Gaza Strip during a shootout between Hamas and Fatah gunmen, witnesses and hospital officials said. One of the Hamas men was killed in the gunbattle, hospital officials said.
The boy’s father, Baher Abu El-Karaya, a local Fatah leader, was injured in the battle. From his hospital bed, he told the Associated Press that Hamas gunmen attacked his home.
Two men were also killed in a car explosion north of Gaza City, Palestinian security officials said. The identities of the men were not immediately known.
A gun battle erupted Saturday near the Islamic University, killing one man, according to hospital officials. In a firefight elsewhere in the city, a Palestinian policeman was killed.
Before dawn Saturday, Hamas gunmen fired mortars at the Abbas-allied Preventive Security Service headquarters and at the home of the force’s chief, Rashid Abu Shbak, officials said. The rocket fire started anew Saturday night.
In fighting around the compound on Friday, six Hamas gunmen were killed and a seventh died Saturday of wounds sustained in that battle, said Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha.
He accused Fatah loyalists of storming a mosque near the security headquarters and executing a senior Hamas activist inside while he was reading the Quran, the Muslim holy book. On Saturday, blood stains were still visible on the mosque’s carpet and the bathroom tiles.
Fatah denied it had stormed the mosque, but said Hamas gunmen had used the mosque as a base for attacking the security headquarters.
At another Gaza City mosque, Hamas activists hung posters with photos of Hamas supporters killed or wounded in the fighting.
“These are the criminal activities of the pro-Zionist, American criminals,” the caption read, in reference to Fatah.
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