Gaza City, Gaza Strip – Gunmen armed with rifles, grenades and explosives climbed from rooftop positions Saturday and residents began venturing out of bullet-scarred homes after leaders agreed to end a week of Palestinian factional bloodshed in Gaza.
The truce began to take hold as Israel launched a fifth day of airstrikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in reprisal for the Islamic militant group’s rocket attacks on Israeli border towns.
Other recent cease-fires between the factions have been short-lived, but Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said he expected this one to stick because of Israel’s military action.
The clashes between Hamas and Fatah gunmen loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have brought the two groups that nominally share power to the brink of civil war. More than 50 Palestinians have died in a week of infighting.
The overlapping violence from Israel’s attacks on Hamas rocket operations has killed 23 Palestinians in the past week.
On Saturday, Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz vowed to keep going after Hamas militants who would fire rockets at Israel, warning them to be “very afraid.”
An Israeli airstrike killed three people in a car in Gaza early today, Palestinian medics said. Israel said the car was carrying three Hamas radicals and a load of weapons. The Israeli army also said warplanes demolished arms factories belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group that also has been involved in rocket attacks on Israel.
Five rockets from Gaza hit the Israeli border area Saturday, causing no injuries.
The air attacks, backed by tank fire, have driven Hamas fighters out of their bases, prompting the militant group to accuse Israel and Fatah of colluding against it.
Saturday’s truce committed the battling factions to pull their fighters off the streets and exchange an unknown number of hostages. Four previous cease-fire agreements collapsed earlier in the week.
A gun battle erupted outside the home of a senior Fatah official in Gaza City as the cease-fire was reached, and security officials said several people were wounded.
