PALESTINIAN CIVIL WAR UPDATE

Fatah gunmen abduct Hamas official in Ramallah. (USAToday)
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Fatah gunmen abducted a Hamas official as he left his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday, saying they would exchange him for the kidnapped nephew of a Fatah strongman, Palestinian police said. The new kidnapping came as days of factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah that paralyzed the Gaza Strip eased under a new truce....

On Sunday, gunmen in Gaza kidnapped the nephew of Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan, security officials said. Though all those abducted were supposed to be freed under Sunday evening's cease-fire, he was not, security officials said. In retaliation, Fatah gunmen in Ramallah kidnapped Arafat Said, an Interior Ministry official, as he left his office and shot a man who was walking with him in the legs, security officials said. Both men were Hamas supporters.

In Gaza Battle, Even Home Is Not Safe - Ibrahim Barzak
Gaza's civilians have no place to hide. With war raging in the streets between Hamas and Fatah loyalists, bullets, grenades and ceiling-piercing mortar shells are flying from all directions, battering homes, shops and schools. Fighting has left parts of Gaza a moonscape of burned cars and wrecked buildings. Mosques and universities have been heavily damaged from fires set by combatants or rockets punching holes in the walls. (AP/Washington Post)