Hamas and Fatah leaders in Gaza Strip said after talks on Friday they agreed to revive a ceasefire that collapsed after a day of fierce fighting. "The leaders of the two movements have agreed to the ceasefire," senior Hamas member Nizar Rayyan said after meetings with Egyptian mediators.
This announcement came after at least 19 Palestinians were killed Friday in clashes between Hamas and Fatah, bringing the total number of fatalities since the cease-fire collapsed Thursday afternoon to 25, Palestinian sources said Friday. Some 170 have been wounded in the fierce fighting.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday appealed again for an immediate end to the clashes and a meeting was being urgently arranged in Saudi Arabia between him and the exiled leader of the rival Hamas movement. "I call on all parties in Gaza to end this behaviour immediately which is contrary to the interests of the Palestinian people," Abbas demanded from his Ramallah's offices.
In one incident, Hamas gunmen killed two members of a Fatah-dominated intelligence service in Gaza and 25 people were injured, a Fatah source and hospital officials told Reuters. Friday's fatalities included also Abu Awad Salim, the commander of the Fatah-affiliated General Intelligence Services in the northern Gaza Strip.
A woman who was killed when she was hit by a bullet while she was in her home.
Earlier, Palestinian Security Force arrested seven Iranian weapons experts working in the service of Hamas during a raid at the Islamic University, a senior Fatah official reported late Thursday. He said an eighth Iranian expert committed suicide during the raid.
The Fatah forces apprehended some 1,400 firearms and missiles found at the site. According to Fatah, at least some of the Iranians were chemical experts. On his part, Hamas official Islam Shahawan dismissed the Fatah claims and warned Fatah to stop attacking the university, or face "serious consequences."
Neither the names nor photographs of the Iranians have been released. Some media reports have speculated that Fatah charges could be part of a Fatah-Hamas propaganda war.
