Rival Palestinian factions fought on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, raising the weekend toll to five dead and 45 wounded. Among the victims was a pro-Hamas cleric pulled from his home and shot several times in the street after a guard from Fatah movement was shot and thrown to his death from a high building in Gaza City, officials said.
According to Reuters, witnesses said masked gunmen from both Hamas and Fatah were streaming onto the streets, setting up roadblocks and barriers to stop cars and check identification papers and pulling rival supporters from vehicles and houses.
The latest round of fighting started on Saturday night in the town of Rafah, where hundreds of rival gunmen took up positions on street corners and rooftops. Hamas and Fatah pounded each other with rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns in Rafah, said witnesses.
Three men from Fatah and two from Hamas were killed in all, including the cleric of a main mosque in Gaza City, and a member of President Mahmoud Abbas' elite Force 17, hospital officials said. Some 45 people were wounded, the officials said.
Hamas accused Fatah of executing the cleric, a shooting that followed the killing of the guard, which Fatah blamed on Hamas.
Fighting was also reported in a central Gaza refugee camp, where Hamas and Fatah accused each other of abducting at least one member of each group, sparking a gun battle that wounded four more people, hospital officials said.
