President in bid to halt Gaza bloodbath

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas stepped in directly today in an attempt to stop bloody clashes between his Fatah and the Islamic Hamas that threatens to engulf his people in civil war and provoke a harsh Israeli response.

Abbas is travelling from the West Bank to Gaza City for talks with officials, including prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo said one of Abbas’ options was to declare a state of emergency, giving him sweeping powers to override the Hamas-Fatah government that has been ineffective in halting the clashes.

Yesterday’s fighting left 21 people dead and brought the week’s toll to 45. Fighting spread through Gaza City, with masked gunmen running through otherwise-deserted streets shooting at each other, trapping frightened residents in their homes.

In an apparent attempt to drag Israel into the conflict, Hamas rained more than 20 rockets on the Israeli town of Sderot for the second day in a row, inviting Israeli retaliation.

Israel hit back twice, its aircraft targeting a car with militants, killing one, and firing a missile at a Hamas command post, killing four. Illustrating the effect of Israeli involvement, Hamas and Fatah fighters put aside their differences to dig through the rubble of the base side by side.

After an urgent meeting of his security Cabinet, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said in a statement that “Israel cannot continue to show restraint when its citizens are being attacked; therefore, a harsh and severe response was decided upon”.

He did not elaborate, but Israeli analysts said a large-scale invasion of Gaza was unlikely. Instead, they expected more air strikes aimed at rocket squads.

The Hamas-Fatah street battles turned the densely-populated seaside city into a war zone, putting terrified civilians increasingly at risk. Stray bullets damaged apartment buildings, and gunmen opened fire at a group of protesters.

At nightfall, Hamas announced it would observe a unilateral ceasefire and Abbas called on the warring parties to hold their fire. The US, European Union, United Nations and Arab League also called for a halt in fighting.

However, battles raged well into the evening, killing two militants from each side, before relative calm during the pre-dawn hours. Truces arranged by Egypt the previous two nights failed to hold.

Throughout the week, the attacks have grown increasingly brazen. Hamas gunmen shot dead six bodyguards early yesterday during an assassination attempt on a top Fatah security man. The commander, Rashid Abu Shbak, was not home at the time of the assault and his family escaped harm.

Hamas militiamen also set fire to an 11-storey apartment building inhabited by several Fatah officials. Fatah MP Nema Sheikh Ali, the wife of a top security commander, said the gunmen broke into her fifth-floor flat, beat her and two of her children with their weapons, and then set the home ablaze.

Ali’s family managed to flee the building. But many residents were trapped inside, screaming out of their windows for help.

Resident Shadi al-Kashir said his father, wife, five children and two sisters were stuck for a time in the family’s flat – trapped by thick smoke in the halls and terrified of gunmen at the building’s entrance and on its roof.

“They tried to send ambulances, but the ambulances came under fire,” he said.

Israeli ambulances stationed at the Gaza-Israel border transferred four badly injured Palestinian children to a hospital in southern Israel, according to the Israeli rescue service.

On Wednesday afternoon, a group of about 200 Palestinians marched through central Gaza City waving Palestinian flags and demanding an end to the fighting. But dozens of masked gunmen used the cover of the demonstration to improve their positions on the street, and then opened fire on the demonstrators, wounding eight people. The rest fled.

Hamas agreed to form the unity government with Fatah in the hope that the international community would end sanctions imposed on the previous Hamas-led government for Hamas’ refusal to renounce violence and accept the existence of Israel.

Abbas is respected in the West but has been unable to lift the boycott.