Four people were injured yesterday after Fatah gunmen stormed the Palestinian Health Ministry and fought with Hamas guards. The clashes took place despite pledges by leaders of the two Palestinian factions on Saturday night to avoid armed conflicts.Hamas guards at the ministry identified the attackers as those belonging to FatahÂ’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, but a Brigades spokesman denied the men were from his faction, saying they were from a Gaza clan affiliated with Fatah.
The guards from HamasÂ’ Izz El-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades chased off most of the Fatah intruders and captured four of the gunmen, tying them up and putting them into a police car as people in the street cheered.
“The time has passed when our institutions and our police can be attacked. Whoever holds a gun against one of our institutions, or one of our policemen, opens himself for death,” said Khaled Abu Hillel, spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Twenty people were hurt in armed confrontations in Gaza on Saturday between students and militants from the two rival groups. The violence followed the condemnation by exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal of Abbas’ veto of a new Gaza security force formed by the group and headed by a top militant.
The appointment of Jamal Abu Samhadana, head of the Popular Resistance Committees, as leader of the new Gaza police force was widely seen as an attempt by Hamas to strengthen its grip on the Interior Ministry. Abbas canceled the decision, a veto Meshaal said assisted a Western campaign to isolate the Palestinian government.
Meshaal said after SaturdayÂ’s violence that Hamas respected AbbasÂ’ authority and called for Palestinian unity.