At least 18 die in Gaza factional fighting

The anarchy gripping the Gaza Strip deepened as at least 18 more Palestinians were killed in factional fighting, eight of them in an ambush near the border with Israel.

Tuesday’s toll of 14 fatalities marked the deadliest day yet in a surge in violence that began Sunday between armed members of the rival Fatah and Hamas organizations.

Early this morning, Fatah sources in Gaza said six more of their men, bodyguards to a top security official, were killed when Hamas militants stormed the official’s home. Hospital officials confirmed the deaths of at least four.

This morning’s attack came despite an appeal for calm from Palestinian leaders and a cease-fire that was supposed to have begun at midnight Tuesday. Two previous truces also failed within hours of being announced, and the continued street battles have undermined a national unity government meant to bring the warring sides together.

In three days, 27 people have died, dozens more have been wounded and everyday life in the already misery-filled seaside strip has ground to a halt.

At the same time, the possibility of Israeli military action in Gaza increased after a barrage of rockets launched by Palestinian militants struck the nearby Israeli town of Sderot on Tuesday, injuring a dozen people. One woman was in serious condition after one of the projectiles landed on her home, Israeli media reported.

The ambush in Gaza that killed eight occurred Tuesday morning near the Karni crossing into Israel, a key conduit for goods that has been shut because of the violence.

Fatah officials said their security forces came under a hail of bullets from Hamas gunmen near a training base for officers who patrol the area by the crossing. Television footage showed bloodied bodies sprawled on the side of the road and in jeeps.

At least one of the victims had been shot by Israeli forces on the other side of the border. The Israeli military said its soldiers opened fire when they saw two gunmen running toward the fence, which the army said constituted an immediate threat.

Hamas denied responsibility for the assault. But Gazans braced for revenge attacks, despite a plea from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for “an end to civil strife and the ghost of internal fighting.”

Abbas’ government is on shaky ground. Interior Minister Hani Kawasmeh, widely viewed as an independent, quit the Cabinet in disgust Monday, complaining of a lack of serious commitment by Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to integrating the rival security agencies that are battling for control of the streets.

Abbas is a member of Fatah, while Haniyeh belongs to the Islamic fundamentalist Hamas. Their power-sharing agreement, which took weeks to come to fruition precisely because of bickering over who would be in charge of security, looks increasingly hollow.

Analyst Ghassan Khatib said it was unlikely that the government would collapse altogether because both men had few, if any, alternatives. But their inability to stem the fighting, even after Haniyeh was said to have personally called street commanders to ask them to pull back, has further eroded their credibility.

“They are sincere; they have a vested interest in the calm,” Khatib said. “But they don’t control the activists in the streets.”

Khatib added that the national unity government “was formed with two objectives: one, to end the internal violence, and two, to solve the economic and financial problems” in Gaza and the West Bank. “This government has already failed” at both, he said.

In addition to the eight killed near the Karni crossing, one more Fatah security agent, four Hamas fighters and a civilian also died in clashes Tuesday, hospital officials said.

Palestinians have watched their living standards plummet because of the conflict, the refusal of Israel to turn over tax revenue and the cutoff in aid from the European Union and the United States, which regard Hamas as a terrorist organization. Shops, schools and offices in Gaza have been closed since Sunday’s factional violence.

In a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad abu Amr urged the EU to resume its assistance.

For his part, Javier Solana, the EU’s chief of foreign policy, pressed the Palestinian government to quell the factional violence so that peace efforts with Israel could resume.

The rocket fire directed at Israel was widely seen as an effort by Hamas to deflect attention from the deadly ambush on Fatah forces earlier in the day. The Israeli military said the air force fired on open areas in northern Gaza on Tuesday evening to deter more rocket attacks.

On Sunday, Israeli security officials had discussed the possibility of ramping up operations in Gaza to stop the attacks, but no plan was announced.

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henry.chu@latimes.com

Special correspondent Rushdi abu Alouf in Gaza City contributed to this report.