THE PALESTINIAN CIVIL WAR HAS BEGUN

Palestinian police, Hamas clash in Gaza.
GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian police fought gunbattles in Gaza City on Friday with a rival Hamas-led security force set up by the Islamist government in defiance of President Mahmoud Abbas.

At least four people were wounded in the first fighting between the groups — two police, one member of the Hamas force and a gunman from Abbas’s Fatah movement.

Intense clashes sent terrified residents fleeing from the night-time streets of Gaza City, where tension has soared amid fears that confrontation between the forces could lead to civil war. ...

Members of the Hamas force, mostly bearded young militants who fought Israel in an uprising for years, surrounded the main police station in Gaza City and traded fire with those inside.

“It began with the two sides shouting at each other and it developed into a gunfight,” said one policeman who had brought a wounded comrade to hospital. ...

“It seems that the civil war has begun,” said one medic, who did not want to give his name as gunfire echoed.

SEE ALSO: Civil war feared as Palestinian factions flex muscle.
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Hamas and Fatah paramilitaries staged mass shows of strength amid warnings that the Islamists’ decision to deploy its gunmen on the streets of Gaza could trigger a Palestinian civil war.

SEE ALSO: PA Calls New Hamas Security Force a "Declaration of War" - Khaled Abu Toameh
PA officials in Ramallah on Wednesday warned that Hamas' launching of a new security force in the Gaza Strip undermined PA Chairman Abbas and was seen as a declaration of war on Abbas' Fatah party. The force is led by Jamal Abu Samhadana, a former commander of the Popular Resistance Committees who has long been wanted by Israel because of his involvement in terrorism. PA officials said the new force was actually a Hamas army, noting that over 90% of its members belonged to Hamas' armed wing, Izaddin al-Kassam.

The launching of the new force comes amid mounting tensions between Hamas and Fatah, whose supporters have been fighting almost daily battles in Gaza. Hamas gunmen are believed to be responsible for a series of shooting attacks on the homes and cars of several PA security officers over the past few days. (Jerusalem Post)