Gunmen wound Fatah militant in Gaza despite truce

GAZA, Jan 31 (Reuters) Gunmen shot and wounded a Fatah militant today, the second day of a ceasefire that has largely halted gun battles between fighters from the once-dominant Palestinian faction and the governing Hamas group.

Hospital officials said Bashir Issa, a member of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was in critical condition after the drive-by shooting in Gaza City. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday after the deaths of at least 30 Palestinians in the fiercest internal Palestininan violence since Hamas, an Islamist group that rejects peace talks with Israel, won election a year ago.

Shops and schools had shut down during five days of bloodshed that preceded the agreement by the feuding factions to pull back from what many Gazans described as a rush towards civil war.

The violence had derailed unity government talks between Hamas and Fatah and prompted some families in the coastal strip to flee their homes.

The truce was initially threatened when Hamas blamed the Fatah-dominated Preventive Security Service for the killing on Tuesday of one of its commanders, Hussein Shabasi.

Hospital officials said Shabasi was shot in the head in the town of Khan Younis. The security service denied any connection with his death.

Reuters BDP GC1722