In a new round of factional fighting, assailants targeted three senior Hamas officials in the West Bank, kidnapping one, torching the car of a second and shooting in the air as a third emerged from a mosque, security officials said today.
Separately, in the Jebaliya refugee camp in Gaza, a member of a Hamas security force was killed when the car he was driving in came under fire from unidentified assailants, a force spokesman said. Four other people were wounded. Hamas accused Fatah of the attack, but Fatah denied involvement.
In nearby Beit Lahiya, a Fatah member and a Fatah-allied security officer were killed and at least 35 other people were wounded, including eight children, in a Hamas-Fatah shootout, witnesses and security officials said.
That fight began when Hamas gunmen armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades surrounded the house of a Fatah-linked security commander and exchanged fire with guards.
Tonight, the Hamas militants attacked the house with grenades and at least 12 rockets, according to witnesses and Palestinian security officers. Several people inside the house were wounded, but ambulances could not get there to evacuate them, officials said.
