Two Hamas security officers were killed in fighting between the Islamist group and a pro-Fatah clan in the Gaza Strip today, Hamas and hospital officials said.
Hospital officials said five Hamas officers and 30 other people, including members of the Helles clan affiliated with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, were wounded in the clashes.
Islam Shahwan, a Hamas security spokesman, said the officers were wounded by gunfire and mortars fired by clan members. He said one officer was killed by an explosive charge planted by them and the other officer was killed by a rocket propelled grenades during the clashes in the Shejaia suburb of Gaza City.
Mr Shahwan said the Islamist group's forces were conducting a campaign to arrest members of the clan who Hamas believes were behind a series of bombings in the territory last week, including one that killed five Hamas members and a girl.
The Helles clan has denied involvement in the bombings.
Mr Shahwan also said members of the clan had launched a makeshift rocket at the Hamas forces, which have managed to control some of the houses in the town and to arrest a number of those who were involved in the fighting.
Hamas, which seized control of the coastal territory a year ago from Abbas's secular forces, blamed Fatah for the blasts -- a charge Fatah has denied.
Last week's blasts touched off tit-for-tat crackdowns by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Fatah in the West Bank. Hundreds of Palestinians have since been arrested.
Hamas's Al-Aqsa television said today the group had decided to release 10 Fatah activists, including Ibrahim Abu an-Naja, a top Fatah representative in the Gaza Strip who was arrested yesterday.
Hamas has said they have released more than half of the hundreds of Fatah activists who are in their custody.
On Thursday, Abbas ordered his Fatah-dominated security services to release all pro-Hamas activists in the West Bank. Twenty were released yesterday but dozens more remained in custody, a senior security source said.
Reuters