Leaders of rival Palestinian movements of Fatah and Hamas agreed
on an immediate ceasefire in northern Gaza Strip, a spokesman for
President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement announced on Thursday
night.
Abdel Hakim Awad told reporters that "it was agreed to
immediately end armed fighting, pull out all militants from the
streets and exchange persons kidnapped earlier on Thursday."
The decision was made during an urgent meeting between leaders
of the two sides held at new Interior Minister Hani al-Qawasmi's
home in Gaza City, Awad said.
He added that the aim of the meeting was to end the
inter-Palestinian fighting that erupted in northern Gaza Strip on
Wednesday and Thursday.
The deal was reached shortly after a two-year-old boy was killed
and his grandmother moderately injured on Thursday night as clashes
between rival Fatah and Hamas militants renewed in northern Gaza
Strip.
Witnesses said militants of the two movements traded fire in an
area of northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, near the homes of
two senior Fatah militants but gunshots hit a next-door house in
the neighborhood, killing Hassan Abu Nadda and wounding his
65-year-old grandmother Um Basel Abu Nadda.
A power-sharing agreement signed by Fatah and Hamas in Saudi
holy city of Mecca last month temporarily ended months of
infighting and a new coalition government was sworn in on
March17.
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However, clashes resumed earlier this week, killing four
Palestinians and wounding 10 others during clashes between the two
rival movements in northern Gaza Strip in the past three days.
(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2007)
