Gaza factional clashes leave 16 dead, 140 hurt

Fighting between rival Palestinian forces continued to rage across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 16 people Friday in violence that laid waste to a days-old cease-fire.

As gunmen battled in the streets, Egyptian officials sought to broker a fresh truce between the ruling Hamas movement and its main rival, Fatah. By day’s end, the two sides had announced a tentative agreement to restore the cease-fire reached Tuesday, but it seemed at best a fragile deal as heavily armed men continued to stalk the streets.

Some of the most intense fighting took place when Hamas gunmen attacked bases used by security forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads Fatah.

Hamas militants launched mortar rounds and crude Kassam rockets at a main base for security forces in Gaza City and at Abbas’ compound nearby. Abbas was not in Gaza at the time.

Fatah forces struck back with heavy machine guns and by setting fire to a building at Islamic University, a Hamas stronghold, where more fierce exchanges took place. Hours later, attackers set fire to Al Quds University, which is affiliated with Fatah.

The dead included at least two children and three Hamas fighters. Most of those killed were Fatah members of the various security forces, including a regional commander of the national intelligence service.

More than 140 people were injured in Friday’s violence, a continuation of skirmishing a night earlier that killed six people and left dozens hurt. The earlier fighting began when Hamas gunmen attacked a truck convoy that the group said was carrying arms from Egypt to Fatah’s forces. Fatah and Egyptian officials denied the accusation.

For most of Friday, gunfire crackled through the largely deserted streets of Gaza City. Many people remained indoors, and even restaurants along main avenues were shuttered.

“I call on everybody, regardless of their political affiliation, to put an end to this bloodletting,” Abbas said, speaking to reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Abbas is expected to travel to Saudi Arabia next week to meet with Hamas leaders for talks on a power-sharing arrangement that could end the factional tensions. Saudi officials invited the two sides for the talks in the Muslim holy city of Mecca. Abbas met last month with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus, the Syrian capital, but they did not reach an agreement.

The groups have been locked in a power struggle since Hamas defeated Fatah in parliamentary elections in January 2006. Several cease-fire agreements have broken down as tensions between the rival militias surged and political leaders’ appeals for calm went unheeded.

The violence has worsened since December, when Abbas said he would call new elections as a way to break the months-long political standoff.

Hamas leaders reject the idea of early elections, which they view as illegal and an attempt to topple them. Abbas has not formally declared elections, or set a date.

More than 70 people have died in factional clashes since mid-December.

Friday’s flare-up came as Middle East peace mediators were meeting in Washington to consider how to bolster Abbas and restart the stalled diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Bush administration has said it will step up its involvement. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to travel to the region this month for a three-way meeting with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that is meant to spur informal discussions on the outlines of a possible final agreement.

But prospects for a breakthrough appear remote given the weak political standing of both Olmert and Abbas. Olmert has been highly unpopular among Israeli voters since the war in Lebanon last year, and Abbas is hobbled by the internal turmoil with Hamas.

Months of talks between Hamas and Fatah over a power-sharing arrangement have foundered in large part because of differences over how to divide Cabinet portfolios and Hamas’ refusal to recognize Israel.

Abbas has sought to persuade Hamas to accept a political plan that would satisfy the West and bring an end to an aid embargo against the radical Islamist group, which many nations consider a terrorist organization.

ellingwood@latimes.com

Times staff writer Ellingwood reported from Jerusalem and special correspondent Abu Alouf from Gaza City.