Last update - 00:00 01/07/2007
Hamas security officers question daughter of Abbas loyalist
By Reuters
Hamas security officers questioned the daughter of the Palestinian intelligence chief and loyalist of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement Sunday in Gaza, in the latest display of factional tension in the territory.
A Palestinian security source told Reuters that Hamas gunmen forced Iman Tirawi, 33, whose father Tawfiq Tirawi is Abbas's intelligence head, from her Gaza home and then released her an hour later.
Islam Shahwan, a spokesman for Hamas's Executive Force in the Gaza Strip, said Iman Tirawi was "summoned" and questioned about her safety needs. He denied any use of force against her.
The Hamas' armed wing routed Fatah forces in Gaza in mid-June after weeks of fighting in which dozens were killed, and which split control over the two Palestinian territories between the two factions.
Abbas, the Fatah leader, responded by naming an emergency cabinet based in the West Bank and sacked a unity government led by Hamas, steps not recognised by the Islamists now in charge of the Gaza coastal territory.
Hamas has accused Abbas's forces of arresting dozens of supporters in the West Bank in the past two weeks.
Fatah security officials said they had arrested about 35 in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Bethlehem in the past two days, accusing some of involvement in setting up a pro-Hamas security force.
A Palestinian security source said the bodyguard of a prominent Hamas lawmaker was arrested on Sunday in the West Bank.