PALESTINIAN CIVIL WAR GAINING MOMENTUM

I WONDER IF THIS CEASE-FIRE WILL BE FOLLOWED AS STRICTLY AS THE FAKE CEASE-FIRE THEY HAVE WITH ISRAEL?

Rival Palestinian factions still fighting, Fatah, Hamas working toward cease-fire, but deal in doubt (MSNBC)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Gunmen fired on the Palestinian foreign minister’s convoy on Sunday and militants launched mortar shells at President Mahmoud Abbas’ office in a daylong wave of factional violence that killed three people.

Fatah spokesman Tawfik Abu Khoussa said late Sunday that his group had agreed to a cease-fire with the rival Hamas faction to try to stop the fighting raging in Gaza, but an intense gunbattle broke out just before midnight near the home of a Fatah strongman, casting doubt on the deal.

A Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said the two sides had reached an agreement in principle to halt the violence, but had not finalized the deal....

Earlier Sunday, Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar’s motorcade came under fire as it drove near the Foreign Ministry in Gaza City. Zahar was unharmed, but the attack unleashed a ferocious gunbattle that raged for more than an hour, the worst fighting since unity government talks broke down late last month. Medical officials said a 19-year-old woman was killed in the crossfire.

Zahar said top Fatah leaders were “fully responsible” for the attack on him “and what will happen.”

In a separate attack blamed on Hamas, dozens of gunmen raided a training camp of Abbas’ Presidential Guard near the president’s residence, killing a member of the elite force.

Hamas gunmen also opened fire at a demonstration of tens of thousands of Fatah supporters in northern Gaza, wounding at least one person, and unknown militants fired at least two mortars at Abbas’ office in Gaza City. Hours later, they launched another mortar shell.

Five pro-Fatah security men and a 45-year-old woman were wounded, officials said. Abbas was in the West Bank at the time.

Elsewhere, the bullet-riddled body of a top security officer affiliated with Fatah, Col. Adnan Rahmi, was discovered in northern Gaza several hours after he disappeared, Palestinian medical officials and his family said. No group took responsibility, but Rahmi’s family blamed Hamas for the killing.

A French reporter, 46-year-old Didier Francois of the newspaper Liberation, was shot in the leg during the day’s violence, according to his newspaper. [ED. THIS MAY BE THE FIRST FRENCHMAN INJURED IN BATTLE IN YEARS]