A spokesman of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced
late Friday that a new Gaza cease-fire had been reached following
the fierce fighting between rival Hamas and Fatah gunmen which left
at least 11 dead on the day.
According to the website of the Jerusalem Post, the agreement
was announced after a meeting between the two factions at the
Egyptian embassy in Gaza City.
"We, the leaders of the two groups, agreed with God's help on a
cease-fire," Nizar Rayan, a regional Hamas leader, told reporters
after the meeting, "The concrete measures to be taken will be
discussed in the next few hours."
A Fatah spokesman Abdel Hakim Awad, in the meantime, confirmed
agreement has been reached in principle.
However, both sides said they need more meetings to work out the
mechanism for reviving the cease-fire reached early Tuesday.
The current round of violence began with a fierce midnight
shootout at Gaza's Islamic University and followed Thursday's
clashes between Hamas and Fatah.
The two days of infighting have left at least 20 people dead and
more than 220 others wounded, the fiercest infighting seen in Gaza
since Hamas came to power one year ago.
Egyptian officials said Hamas broke the truce agreed early
Tuesday by attacking several trucks belonging to Abbas' Fatah
movement on Thursday, while Hamas officials accused the trucks of
carrying weapons from Egypt into Gaza Strip, the charge was denied
later both by Egypt and Fatah movement.
Periodic clashes between the rival factions have been persisted
for months, with several truces breaking down. The latest went into
effect on Tuesday, after five days of fighting that left some
dozens of casualties and disrupted efforts to form a unity
government.
Earlier, media reports said that Palestinian Authority President
and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas political chief Khaled
Meshaal would meet in Saudi Arabia next Tuesday to try to end the
fighting.
(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2007)
