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Israel accepts 180 members of Fatah fleeing Gaza Strip

Israel has allowed more than 180 members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party to flee the Gaza Strip after a wave of deadly clashes with Hamas, the army said yesterday.

“More than 180 Palestinians from Fatah were authorized to take refuge in Israel. Twenty-two of them were wounded and were hospitalized,” an army spokeswoman said.

She said the decision was a “humanitarian gesture.”

Dozens of Fatah men fled the Gaza Strip on Saturday through the Nahal Oz crossing after clashes erupted between Islamist Hamas-run security forces and the pro-Fatah Helis clan, killing nine people and wounding dozens more.

The fighting was the deadliest bout of inter-Palestinian violence since Hamas seized power last year and followed a week in which the Islamist movement cracked down on its Fatah rivals, detaining more than 300 people.

Tensions have been high in the impoverished coastal strip of 1.5 million people since a beachside bombing more than a week ago killed five senior Hamas militants and a little girl.

Hamas quickly blamed Fatah and on Saturday accused members of the Helis family of responsibility for the July 25 attack.
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