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Gaza truce hope for school exams | |
(about 10 hours later) | |
Palestinian factions have reached a new ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip after a weekend that saw some of the worst fighting in a month of bloodletting. | |
Gunmen fired at the house of Hamas's top official and two militants died after being thrown from tall buildings, a sinister new feature of the unrest. | |
Hamas and its rival Fatah are locked in a power struggle that has left more than 50 people dead since mid-May. | |
Monday's truce was called to allow pupils to take final school exams. | |
Thrown from roof | |
In one incident on Sunday, Hamas militants kidnapped an officer in a Fatah-linked security force and killed him by throwing him from the roof of a 15-floor building. | |
The incident sparked fresh clashes throughout Gaza City. | The incident sparked fresh clashes throughout Gaza City. |
Clashes between Fatah and Hamas have led to death and destructionFatah militants attacked the house of a Hamas preacher with rocket-propelled grenades before dragging him away. His body was later delivered to a hospital. | |
Just before midnight, a Hamas activist was thrown off the 12th floor of a building, security officials said. | |
There were no reports of casualties in the Monday morning attack on the house of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya in the Shati refugee camp next to Gaza City. | |
It was not confirmed whether he was at home when gunmen opened fire from a nearby block of flats, but his wife, children and grandchildren were, relatives said. | |
It was the first time that Mr Haniya has been an apparent target since renewed factional fighting broke out on 13 May. | |
Hope of escape | |
Militants pulled back from flashpoint junctions on Monday, but shooting still punctuated Monday morning. Several previous ceasefires have been short-lived. | |
Matriculation exams are expected go ahead for tens of thousands of 12th grade students, although many reportedly had to take long detours to avoid gunmen still on the streets. | |
Daliya Naji, 16, said the fighting had kept her awake all night and could affect her chances of success - which for her could mean leaving Gaza to attend university in Egypt. | |
"I am a good student, but I feel my brain is empty. I can't think any more and I don't know what to do," she said | |
A ceasefire agreed by Hamas and Fatah in May broke down last week after a member of forces loyal to Fatah was killed. | |
Hamas - which won legislative elections last year - formed a unity government with Fatah in March, but the deal failed to end their rivalry or the violence. |