Replies

Hamas TV: We have taken over the northern Gaza Strip
THE JERUSALEM POST ^ | Jun. 12, 2007

Posted on 06/12/2007 10:05:12 AM CDT by 3AngelaD

Hamas launched a full-scale attack Tuesday afternoon against Fatah security bases and positions in Gaza, and succeeded in taking over a number of them, Israel Radio reported. Hamas-affiliated television said that the organization overtook the entire northern section of the Gaza Strip. After airing the report, the station was attacked by PA security forces and forced to play pro-Fatah songs. Israel Radio also reported that a top Fatah military official sent a message to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas stating that security forces were holding their ground, but calling on the Fatah leader to order an end to the current policy of restraint, allowing troops to return fire.

Less then an hour after the attack, Abbas called for an immediate cease-fire. In response to the Hamas assault, Fatah gunmen kidnapped a deputy Cabinet minister from Hamas on Tuesday. The fate of Deputy Transportation Minister Faidi Shabaneh, 46, was not known. Members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a violent Fatah offshoot, said Shabaneh was not harmed, denying claims on Hamas Web sites that he had been killed by his captors. Hamas said Shabaneh was seized by gunmen after he emerged from his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Also on Tuesday afternoon, Fatah announced that within several hours, the faction would decide whether to stay in the unity government with Hamas, or leave the Palestinian Authority government altogether, Israel Radio reported. The announcement coincided with a Hamas attack on the National Security headquarters in Gaza, an incident which followed a recent threat of such action by the extremist Islamic faction. National Security is one of the armed forces affiliated with Fatah. Hamas also announced that Fatah must evacuate all buildings used by Military Intelligence, the Revolutionary Guard, National Security and Preventive Security. ...

In recent days, internecine Palestinian violence reached new heights when rival factions took their fights into the hospitals, even causing treatment at one hospital to cease for several hours after a doctor was dragged to the street and shot six times in the legs. On Sunday, a Hamas member and a Fatah operative were killed by being cuffed and thrown off high-rises. ...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1848926/posts