Gaza truce takes hold, some gunmen still on streets

GAZA, Jan 30 (Reuters) A ceasefire between rival Palestinian factions appeared to be holding today, bringing people out of their homes for the first time in five days as shops reopened and traffic again clogged narrow Gaza streets.

''We are very happy and we hope that this time, the ceasefire will last,'' said Yahya Zaki, a clothing store owner.

Some gunmen remained on the streets in the Gaza Strip and police deployment was limited, but no major violence was reported.

The truce took effect after Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas met an aide to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah yesterday, in a bid to stem a surge of fighting in which at least 30 Palestinians were killed.

The internal violence that began on Thursday was the fiercest since Islamist Hamas, which rejects peace talks with Israel, trounced the more moderate Fatah in an election last year, triggering a Western aid embargo.

The bloodshed has derailed unity government talks between Hamas and Fatah and prompted some Gazan families to flee their homes.

Shops and schools were shut down over the past five days as the sounds of gun battles echoed across the narrow, densely populated territory where 1.5 million Palestinians live.

While gunmen from both factions removed their impromptu checkpoints, some Fatah fighters remained visible in Gaza City, protecting the official residences of Abbas and a senior faction chief as well as the compound of a security service considered loyal to Fatah.

The ceasefire also requires Hamas and Fatah gunmen to release hostages and Palestinian police to deploy in force. There was a limited police presence in Gaza today, but no immediate word on the release of hostages.

''There is no Palestinian interest in internal Palestinian fighting, all parties are losers in this battle. The real battle is with the (Israeli) occupation,'' said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman.

Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, a Fatah spokesman in Gaza and the West Bank, said the faction ''has a good and serious intention to make this (ceasefire) agreement succeed''.

Previous ceasefires, including one last month, have been short-lived.

DIPLOMATIC DRIVE A day after a suicide bomber from Gaza killed three people in Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat, Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz vowed to take action but gave no hint as to when, where or against whom the military would strike.

''The initiative will be ours and we have no intention of relaying what we plan to do,'' Peretz said in broadcast remarks during a visit to the porous border with Egypt, near Eilat.

With the Quartet of Wasia peace mediators due to meet in Washington on Friday, Israel could be wary of taking military action that might jeopardise a diplomatic drive promoted by its main ally, the United States.

In remarks after the Eilat attack yesterday, Peretz said Israel would ''do everything to preserve'' its two-month-old Gaza ceasefire with militant groups. The suicide bombing, claimed by Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was the first in Israel in nine months.

Reuters SSC GC1725