MIDDLE EAST: Rival Palestinian factions began swapping hostages yesterday under a ceasefire deal that went into effect hours earlier, largely halting gunbattles in which at least 30 Palestinians were killed, officials said.
The internal Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip had been the fiercest since the Islamist Hamas group, which rejects peace talks with Israel, trounced the Fatah faction in elections last year, triggering a western aid embargo.
Twenty Hamas and 18 Fatah hostages had been freed so far, said Samih al-Madhoun, a senior leader of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah. "The freeing of hostages has begun," he said.
The truce, agreed late on Monday to end five days of fighting, seemed to be generally holding despite the killing of a Hamas commander in Gaza yesterday.
The ceasefire went into effect after Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas met an aide to Mr Abbas.
The bloodshed had derailed unity government talks between Hamas and Fatah and prompted some families in the coastal strip to flee their homes.
Shops and schools shut down as the sound of gunbattles echoed across the narrow, densely populated territory where 1.3 million Palestinians live.
As the ceasefire went into effect, people came out of their homes for the first time in five days and shops reopened. Traffic again clogged Gaza's streets.
Gunmen from both factions removed checkpoints they had set up during the clashes, but some Fatah fighters remained visible in Gaza City.
"We are very happy and we hope that this time the ceasefire will last," said Yahya Zaki, a clothing shop owner.
Previous ceasefires, including one last month, have been short-lived.
The truce was initially threatened when Hamas blamed the Preventive Security Service for the killing of one of its commanders, Hussein Shabasi.
Hospital officials said Mr Shabasi was shot in the head in the town of Khan Younis. The security service denied any connection with his death.
A day after a suicide bomber from Gaza killed three people in Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat, Israeli defence minister Amir Peretz vowed to take action but gave no hint as to when, where or against whom the military would strike.