Hamas gunmen stormed the house of President Mahmoud Abbas’s top security chief in Gaza and at least nine people were killed in fierce factional fighting on Wednesday that pushed Palestinians closer to all-out civil war.
The raid on the home of Rashid Abu Shbak, one of the most powerful Fatah leaders, came shortly after mortars struck near Abbas’s Gaza office. Gunmen then attacked a Hamas position outside the Interior Ministry building.
Palestinian officials said the widening hostilities could bring down a two-month-old unity government formed between ruling Hamas Islamists and Abbas’s secular Fatah faction.
Fatah official said Abbas may declare a state of emergency, a move that could allow him to rule by decree for a limited period of time.
Terrified Gaza residents hid indoors as masked gunmen fought running battles street-to-street. Witnesses said militants were grabbing some civilians out of their cars to hold as hostages.
In one panicked call to a local radio station, a woman appealed to Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to act. “Do not leave us to die here,” she pleaded.
The rising death toll on Wednesday included four Fatah security guards at Abu Shbak’s home, a member of Abbas’s elite Presidential Guard and two member of the pro-Fatah Preventive Security service.
Hamas said Fatah gunmen “executed” one of its members on Wednesday. At least 16 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday, including two Hamas fighters.
Since the beginning of fight on Friday, at least 34 Gazans have been killed and more than 100 injured, including a female nurse. She was seriously injured on Wednesday when the ambulance she was riding in caught in the crossfire.
Abu Qusai, a spokesman for Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant group, accused Hamas political leaders of ordering the attacks and called on Fatah ministers to resign.
Their resignation could, under Palestinian law, end the government if independents followed suit. “If the situation continues in this manner, then the government will collapse,” Labour Minister Mahmoud al-Aloul of Fatah said.
Hamas blamed Fatah for the escalating violence, saying the attack on Abu Shbak’s house came after his security guards opened fire on a passing Hamas patrol. Abu Shbak was apparently not at home at the time of the attack.
Gunmen also pounded the main headquarters of the Fatah-dominated Preventive Security service during the attack.
Hours earlier, gunmen shot and wounded an Egyptian official as he attempted to monitor the latest short-lived truce, called by Haniyeh at the end of the worst day of bloodshed in months.
Unresolved difference
For many Palestinians, the fighting came as little surprise. The Saudi-brokered unity government deal failed to resolve the crucial issue of control over security forces, and left armed groups fighting deadly turf wars.
Fatah’s forces are larger in number. But many analysts believe Hamas’s Executive Force and armed wing are better equipped and organised.
The US administration has earmarked tens of millions of dollars to provide training and non-lethal equipment to Abbas’s presidential guard and to bolster security at Karni.