RIOTS AND GUNBATTLES IN ARAFATSTAN

PA security forces ransack Gaza parliament, protest late wages.
Thousands of Palestinian security men fired off automatic rifles and smashed windows at parliament in Gaza on Thursday in one of the biggest protests over unpaid wages since the Hamas government took office.

Protesters criticized a plan by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who is also a senior leader of the Hamas Islamic militant group, to make partial salary payments to the lowest paid workers in the Palestinian Authority in the next few days.

“We want to know when this tragedy will stop,” one security official shouted through a loudspeaker outside the parliament building in central Gaza City.

Hamas, Fatah Gunmen Clash in Gaza (Reuters)
A gunbattle between militants from the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah erupted in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, lightly wounding three Fatah members.