Three hurt in Gaza clash between Fatah and Hamas
Source: Reuters
(Adds West Bank cemetery incident, paragraphs 17-20) By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Fatah and Hamas gunmen clashed in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, wounding at least four Palestinians, residents said, a day after the rival factions restarted talks on forming a unity government. Residents said three civilians and a Fatah gunman were wounded in the exchange which took place near the house of a senior militant in President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. Fatah accused Hamas's so-called "executive force" of besieging the house. Hamas said the fighting broke out when its patrol came under fire from Fatah. At least 30 Palestinians have been killed in factional fighting since Abbas called last month for early elections. A day earlier, Palestinian factions including Hamas and Fatah resumed talks on forming a coalition government. Similar talks broke down last year. Hamas has struggled to govern since taking office in March under the weight of U.S.-led sanctions imposed because of its refusal to recognise the Jewish state, renounce violence and abide by interim peace deals. Earlier this week, Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal held inconclusive unity talks in Damascus. Soon after dawn on Wednesday, Israeli forces killed a 17-year-old Palestinian near the Israeli-built border fence on the Gaza border, hospital officials said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops fired at three Palestinians crawling towards the fence after they failed to heed calls to stop. "One was hit and the other two were taken away for questioning," the spokeswoman said. Hospital staff said the dead teenager was not a militant. Israel and several Palestinian militant groups declared a Gaza ceasefire in November that ended an Israeli military offensive in the territory. Some factions have kept up sporadic cross-border rocket attacks from Gaza despite the truce, saying they will continue to strike until Israel halts raids against militants in the occupied West Bank, where there is no ceasefire. In the West Bank, Israelis who were part of a group of several hundred praying at a sacred Jewish site damaged tombstones in a Palestinian cemetery and threw stones at houses, according to a local mayor. "They damaged many of the graves and also the doors and windows of homes near the cemetery," mayor Adel Qadi of Awatra village near the city of Nablus said. A military spokesman said the army condemned the incident, adding that troops spotted the men in the cemetery and called on them to stop but were unable to arrest them because they dispersed in the praying crowd.
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