Last update - 00:00 21/10/2007
Hamas, Jihad agree to renew truce after days of deadly clashes
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies
Hamas forces and the rival Islamic Jihad group agreed overnight on Sunday to a renewed truce, bringing a tentative end to two days of deadly clashes, Army Radio reported.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu-Zuhri was quoted as saying Monday that the group's relationship with Islamic Jihad was strategic. The truce was brokered by the Popular Resistance Committees.
Gunmen from the two groyps on Sunday exchanged fire for a second day in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, leaving at least one person dead and 18 wounded, medics said.
An Islamic Jihad official identified the dead man as a member of his group.
Hamas officials and residents said the clashes broke out after gunmen from Islamic Jihad tried to abduct a member of Hamas in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Hamas forces foiled the attempt and seized 15 members of Islamic Jihad, including its top commander in the town, they said.
Rafah residents reported hearing loud explosions in the town.
In recent weeks, tensions have repeatedly flared between the two groups, including over control of a mosque in southern Gaza.
On Saturday, clashes erupted between Hamas and Islamic Jihad gunmen, after an Islamic Jihad activist was stopped in the street by Hamas security forces. A 51-year-old woman was killed in an exchange of fire, and each side kidnapped members of the other group.
There was also fighting in Gaza City on Saturday between Hamas men and a large Fatah-affiliated clan. Two people were killed, including a 13-year old, and twenty were injured in those clashes.
The ruling Hamas and the much smaller Islamic Jihad have very similar ideologies, and in the past cooperated in attacks against Israel. However, since seizing control of Gaza by force in June, Hamas has insisted only members of its security force can carry weapons in public.
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