Seven Palestinians were killed Saturday in firefights between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, bringing the number of fatalities since fighting started Thursday to 25. Scores of people were kidnapped throughout the weekend and 68 others wounded.
Talks between representatives of Fatah and Hamas to end the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip collapsed Saturday night.
Late Saturday night, a 12-year-old boy died and two people were injured in the northern Gaza Strip during a shootout between Hamas and Fatah gunmen, witnesses and hospital officials said. One of the Hamas men was killed in the gunbattle, hospital officials said.
The boy's father, Baher Abu El-Karaya, a local Fatah leader, was hurt in the battle. From his hospital bed, he told the Associated Press that Hamas gunmen attacked his home.
Two men were also killed in a car explosion north of Gaza City, Palestinian security officials said. A gun battle also erupted Saturday near the Islamic University, killing one man, according to hospital officials. In a firefight elsewhere in the city, a Palestinian policeman was killed.
All the incidents began on Thursday night, following the death of a Hamas member who was killed in a car bomb in the Jabalya refugee camp. Hamas blamed Fatah for the explosion, but it maintained that the blast was the result of a "work accident," asy an accidental blast resulting from the preparation of an explosive device.
On Friday, 16 people were killed in the Gaza Strip, including a two-year-old toddler who was killed by Fatah gunfire.
