On Thursday, the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry's Executive Force
attacked a convoy of four trucks that transported military equipment to the
Presidential Guards base in the central Gaza Strip. At least six people were
killed in the ensuing battle, which included mortars and rocket-propelled
grenade fire. The casualties shattered a ceasefire agreed to on Jan. 30.
"As we see this measure as an absolute danger, we demand that Arab
countries halt the entry of any weapons aimed to strengthen one party
against the other," Hamas said in a statement.
At a news conference, Abu Obaida said the 4,700-member PG was undergoing
a massive armament effort. He said that since Jan. 31 at least seven other
trucks filled with weapons and military equipment arrived at PG bases in the
Gaza Strip.
Fatah spokespeople said Thursday's convoy to PG contained generators,
tents and medical equipment. They said Hamas ambushed the convoy near the
Palestinian refugee camp of Bureij and hijacked two of the trucks. At least
four PG officers were killed.
"How can they attack the Presidential Guards like that when there is a
ceasefire?" PG spokesman Wael Dahab said.
The Hamas attack sparked battles with Fatah throughout Gaza City and in
the northern Gaza Strip. Executive Force troops fired RPGs at a post of
the Fatah-aligned Military Intelligence and then stormed the facility,
injuring five MI members.
Hours later, PA forces loyal to Abbas raided the Hamas-controlled
Islamic University in the Gaza Strip, and Fatah said seven Iranian military
trainers, including a general, were captured. PA sources said another
Iranian operative blew himself up in a suicide strike during the raid.
Fatah, which did not provide details of the Iranian detainees, said
1,500 weapons and RPGs were confiscated at Islamic University. On Friday, at
least six people were killed in militia battles in the northern Gaza Strip.
Egypt has condemned the Hamas attack on the PG convoy. Maj. Gen. Burhan
Jamal Hamad, chief of the Egyptian security delegation in the Gaza Strip,
said the assault was unjustified, but did not detail the contents of the
shipment to Abbas loyalists.
"I told all Palestinian parties that the rumors of having weapons inside
those trucks were false," Hamad said. "What is happening in Gaza will never
serve the Palestinian cause, nor can it be beneficial to any Palestinian
party."