Violence raged for a fourth day in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday as Palestinian gunmen from the rival Hamas and Fatah factions continued battling in the streets of Gaza City despite a cease-fire called by their leaderships.

At least 17 people were killed in the clashes Wednesday, bringing the total death toll in the factional fighting to at least 41. Wednesday's dead included 10 members of Fatah, five Hamas members, and two civilians.

Hamas and Fatah had earlier said their men would hold fire as of 8:00 P.M., but a Fatah man was killed in fighting after the cease-fire took effect.

	Advertisement

Dozens of Gaza residents turned out for a rally on Wednesday to demand an end to factional fighting, only to be caught in crossfire that left eight wounded.

"Just as we used to protect you from the occupation by acting as human shields, we have come to protect you from yourselves," one protester shouted at gunmen, referring to instances when Palestinian civilians positioned themselves between militants and Israeli troops.

Placing themselves between warring factions deployed on opposite ends of a Gaza City street, the protesters were forced to run for their lives when a gun battle erupted, witnesses said.

A local hospital said eight people were wounded in the crossfire, one critically.

Magen David Adom reported that Palestinians wounded from crossfire in the infighting, including a young girl with a head wound, were transferred to Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva and Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon for treatment.

Hamas says it will begin a unilateral cease-fire
Hamas announced it would begin observing a unilateral cease-fire in the Gaza Strip starting at 8 P.M. Wednesday.

The call was echoed by Abbas, who also called on all warring factions to hold their fire.

The cease-fire was the fourth truce to be called in as many days.

"We will abide by an immediate unilateral cease-fire starting at 8 pm (local time)," said Khalil al-Haya, a Hamas representative in Gaza. "We announce that we are ready to immediately sit with our brothers ... to stop the deterioration."

His statement was carried on Hamas radio and TV in Gaza.

On Tuesday, Hamas forces shot dead six bodyguards from the rival Fatah movement and mistakenly ambushed a jeep carrying their own fighters, killing five of them, in the bloodiest day of Palestinian infighting since violence erupted in the Gaza Strip four days ago.

The streets of central Gaza City echoed with the rattle of gunfire, and were empty except for gunmen in black ski masks. Terrified residents huddled in dark homes after electricity to some downtown neighborhoods was cut off by a downed power line.

At mid-day Wednesday, policemen from the Fatah-allied Preventive Security organization arrested five Hamas men and were driving them through Gaza City when their vehicle was ambushed by Hamas fighters, Preventive Security officials said.

Five of the Hamas men were killed, along with two Fatah men, they said. The exact circumstances of the incident were not immediately clear.

Hamas radio reported that a Hamas man was killed in another clash, and a nurse traveling in an ambulance was shot in the head after being caught in the crossfire, hospital officials said. Her family said she was brain dead and being kept alive by a respirator.

At least two other Fatah men were killed on Wednesday. The circumstances of their deaths had yet to be confirmed.

Hamas storms home of Fatah chief
Early Wednesday, Hamas gunmen fired mortars and pipe bombs at the home of Fatah security chief Rashid Abu Shbak, before storming inside and killing six bodyguards, Palestinian security and medical officials said.

Abu Shbak and his family were not home at the time of the attack, but the house was guarded by at least a dozen of his bodyguards. Dozens of reinforcements from the Preventive Security organization, which Abu Shbak used to head, were sent in to join the fighting.

Fighting raged close to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's heavily guarded compound Wednesday morning, which was also targeted by Hamas mortar fire overnight, and the bodies of two Fatah gunmen could be seen sprawled on the street nearby. Abbas, leader of Fatah, was not present.

The new spate of violence came one day after Hamas-Fatah fighting claimed the lives of at least 15 Palestinians.

Abdel Hakim Awad, a Fatah spokesman, angrily accused Hamas' leadership of the attack on Abu Shbak's house. "All (Hamas) are killers from top to bottom, all are implicated," he said, charging that the Islamist group wanted to turn Gaza into a new Somalia or Darfur.

In a further response to the Wednesday killings, the spokesman of a Gaza armed wing of the Fatah movement called on Abbas and all Fatah cabinet ministers to resign immediately from the PA unity government, Israel Radio reported.

"Abu Mazen must declare a state of emergency," said the spokesman, identified as Abu Qusai, referring to Abbas by his nickname. "The unity government is a lie. There is no unity in the Palestinian people."

Earlier on Wednesday, mortars struck near Abbas' office but caused no injuries. The salvo followed a grenade attack at a Hamas position at the Interior Ministry in Gaza.

Gunmen shot and wounded a top Egyptian official in Gaza on Wednesday as he tested whether a shaky ceasefire deal between feuding Fatah and Hamas loyalists was holding, a Palestinian security official said.

The Egyptian was shot in the hand as he walked along a Gaza street with the Palestinian cabinet secretary Ghazi Hamad of Hamas and a Fatah official, in a bid to see whether the armed rivals were sticking to the truce agreed on late Tuesday.

The Egyptian was among a team involved in mediating the truce and trying to put an end to the fighting.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said late Tuesday that the factions had agreed to a new cease-fire, and would pull their gunmen off the streets at midnight. The accord was the third such agreement in as many days.

Meanwhile, the Israel Air Force carried out a strike against Hamas' headquarters in Rafah on Wednesday, in response to the nearly 30 Qassams that have rocked the western Negev since Tuesday.

UN Secretary General: Gaza fighting "unacceptable"
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called fighting between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah and rocket attacks into Israel "unacceptable."

He called on Palestinians to immediately cease all acts of violence.

"The deadly factional fighting has included unacceptable attacks on Palestinian Authority installations, institutions and personnel, and endangers civilians throughout Gaza," Ban said in a statement following clashes on Tuesday.

"I underline the obligations on all parties involved to act in strict accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law, and to ensure that humanitarian operations can continue without impediment," he said.