Hamas and Fatah gunmen exchanged automatic weapons fire Friday at a Gaza City university. The sound of gunfire and explosions rang out in the Gaza Strip as masked gunmen took up positions at roadblocks and rooftops - defying a truce declared late Wednesday.
Six days of fighting between Hamas and the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have claimed 47 lives.
Gunshots and rocket-propelled grenades flew outside the Islamic University, a Hamas stronghold, in two bursts of fighting on Friday. Hamas fighters in control of the university battled Fatah forces who had taken up positions in the nearby Foreign Ministry building.
According to the AP, grenades hit the office of university President Kamelen Shaath, who appealed for an immediate halt to the violence. "Universities must be outside the circle of violence and I appeal to the president (Abbas) and all the wise people on both sides to try and spare the university the agony of this fight," he said.
Elsewhere in the city, a 40-year-old Palestinian fisherman was shot in the head by a sniper.
"Our retaliation for (Fatah's) crimes is going to be beyond their imagination," Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas' military wing, told The Associated Press. Gen. Jamal Kayed, Fatah's security commander in Gaza, said his group had already started implementing the cease-fire but said Hamas was not willing to follow suit.
