Palestinian infighting leaves 3 dead
Rival Palestinian factions battled in the Gaza Strip today, raising the weekend toll to at least three dead and 39 injured in the fiercest internal fighting since a cease-fire was declared nearly a month ago.
Hours after Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip infiltrated Israel at a key border crossing, Israeli aircraft bombed a building used by Islamic Jihad, causing two injuries, residents said. The Israeli army confirmed that the airstrike targeted the militant group, which took part in Saturday’s cross-border raid.
The army said a separate airstrike targeted a weapons production facility used by a militant offshoot of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction that joined Islamic Jihad in the raid.
The army said four or five militants entered Israeli territory near the Kissufim crossing in the first major cross-border raid since Palestinian militants tunneled under the Gaza border and kidnapped Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit a year ago. Shalit remains in captivity.
The heaviest fighting between the ruling Islamist group Hamas and secular Fatah took place in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where hundreds of rival gunmen took up positions on street corners and rooftops.
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