Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas agreed Thursday to calm, after their supporters traded gun fire and abductions in northern Gaza Strip Wednesday, causing the death of one Fatah member and injury of at least 17 others.
Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas agreed Thursday to calm after their supporters traded gun fire and abductions in northern Gaza Strip Wednesday, causing the death of one Fatah member and injury of at least 17 others.
The agreement between the two sides came as the new Palestinian interior minister, Hani Alqawasmi, is to hold Thursday a series of meetings with senior security officials in Gaza, including the chief of internal security Rashid Abu Shbak.
Alqaqwasmi, an independent minister, has declared a new plan for restoring order to the Palestinian territories. This is a bid to fix the Fatah-Hamas Makkah deal, signed by the two parties in February in the Saudi Arabian city of Makkah.
Minister Alqawasmi has called on Palestinian factions to abide by the reconciliation they reached in Makkah and not resort to violence.
The clashes erupted Wednesday after members of Hamas chased companions of Fatah’s local leader in northern Gaza, Samih Almadhoun. One Fatah member was killed and seven others wounded.
Also on Wednesday university lecturer Hamdan Alsoufi, of Hamas, was reportedly abducted. Two Fatah members, Basem Alza’aneen and Mohammad Alkafarna, were also kidnapped by gunmen.
