Palestinian medical sources announced Sunday that two presidential security personnel died of wounds they sustained earlier during factional infighting.
Abdelhalim Madi, 23 and Azmi Alwadiya, 21 died today of wounds they sustained on Friday after their outpost in Gaza city was attacked by gunmen.
These fatalities brought the death toll due infighting in Gaza over the past three days to 27. The number of wounded is estimated at dozens, while several public utilities including universities and institutions have been damaged.
Today Gaza saw relative calm after both Fatah and Hamas concluded yesterday night a seven-point agreement on a cease-fire, in an attempt to restore calm and return to dialogue.
Sounds of bombs and gun fire have been audible from time to time though, but no causalities have been reported according medics and witnesses.
Some roadblocks and checkpoints have been removed from streets, while others remain- particularly near security premises such as the Saraya compound and the Ansar post to the west of Gaza city.
During a meeting between representatives of both Fatah and Hamas at the Egyptian embassy in Gaza, the two factions agreed to their ninth ceasefire announcement in recent months. It stipulated ceasing all forms of violence, removing roadblocks, deploying police forces, abiding by the interior ministry’s directions and forming a joint follow-up delegation.
Violence broke out on Thursday after a group of Hamas’s interior ministry executive force blocked a convoy of the Palestinian president’s 17 Force at the Salaheldin main road in central Gaza Strip. Hamas believed the convoy contained weapons sent by an Arab country through Egypt-Gaza borders. Egypt and the Palestinian presidency denied Hamas’s claims.
Factional infighting in Gaza has been taking place frequently since last December after Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called for early presidential and parliamentary elections.This action was in light of failed unity government talks and the ongoing internationally-imposed economic embargo that has been in place since a Hamas-led government was installed in last January’s legislative elections.
