Four Palestinians were killed in a feud between two families allied with political rivals Hamas and Fatah, raising concerns about a new outbreak of factional fighting.
Saturday was the deadliest day in Gaza since Hamas and Fatah reached a power-sharing deal two weeks ago. That agreement halted months of bloody clashes, but Gaza remains volatile because families of some of those killed still seek revenge.
The latest fighting erupted in the southern town of Khan Younis, between the Ghelban clan allied with Hamas and the Karouah family, which is linked to Fatah. Both families sustained casualties in recent months of fighting.
Just before midnight on Friday, Mohammed Ghelban, 28, a local commander of Hamas' military wing, was driving in his car with his wife and children, said a local security official. Assailants dragged Ghelban from his car and shot and killed him in front of his family, the official said. It was not immediately clear what prompted the attack.
A member of the rival clan, 22-year-old Hazem Karouah, 22, was killed several hours later, as was 75-year-old Ismail Sabah, who was caught in the line of fire. Later on Saturday, 27-year-old Ghada Karouah died of gunshot wounds.
Thirty-seven people were wounded, including four who were in critical condition, hospital officials said.
The two factions did not openly blame each other. However, government spokesman Ghazi Hamad of Hamas said some groups were "trying to revive the internal conflict through acts of aggression."
Talal Okal, a Palestinian commentator, said that the family feuds "are part of the rubble left over from the fighting." However, he said he expected Hamas and Fatah to try to suppress revenge attacks in order not the endanger the power-sharing agreement.
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
The central Dutch city of Utrecht has installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets viewers of an online livestream alert authorities to fish being held up as they make their springtime migration to shallow spawning grounds. The idea is simple: An underwater camera at Utrecht’s Weerdsluis lock sends live footage to a Web site. When somebody watching the site sees a fish, they can click a button that sends a screenshot to organizers. When they see enough fish, they alert a water worker who opens the lock to let the fish swim through. Now in its fifth year, the
RSS