18 killed in Gaza infighting

Rival Palestinian forces clashed in the Gaza Strip on Saturday near the pro-Hamas Islamic University...

Rival Palestinian forces clashed in the Gaza Strip on Saturday near the pro-Hamas Islamic University, killing at least two in some of the fiercest infighting since Hamas’s election victory a year ago.

One of the dead was believed to be a university student who was caught in the cross fire, witnesses said. Several people were also injured in the clash.

A member of the Hamas-led police force died of his wounds overnight, hospital officials said, bringing the death toll from Friday’s factional fighting to 16, the highest in a single day.

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Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha vowed the group would avenge those killed in the fighting, including local Hamas leader Zuhair al-Mansi, and accused Fatah of mounting a plot, with US backing, to overthrow the Hamas-led government.

He said unity government talks between President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah and Hamas were on hold. “As long as the leaders of the coup within Fatah are continuing the killings, there can be no dialogue,” Taha said.

Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, a Fatah spokesman, blamed Hamas for the latest round of fighting. “We in Fatah did not stop the dialogue. Those who stopped the dialogue are required to return,” he said.

At least 48 Palestinians have been killed in infighting since Abbas called last month for new elections, hospital officials said.

–Nidal al-Mughrabi

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