In Gaza Battle, Even Home Is Not Safe

A Palestinian policeman guards in a street in Gaza City Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007. Hamas gunmen attacked bases of Fatah-allied troops with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades early Sunday, part of a four-day campaign by the Islamic militants to weaken the security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) (Hatem Moussa - AP)

"My wife was crying on Friday night all the time. I tried to comfort her. She looked at me and said, 'You are crying as well,'" said Abdel Rahman, the computer technician, recounting a gunbattle outside their apartment building. "We were crawling just to get to the bathroom."

His home is near the headquarters of the pro-Fatah Preventive Security force, site of some of the heaviest fighting. The family said the apartment building's electricity had been cut off for three days, and a generator ran out of fuel.

During lulls in fighting, Gazans run out to buy supplies to tide them over through the next round of battle. But many supermarkets are closed, and supplies of key items such as milk, bread and diapers have been running low.

Near the Preventive Security headquarters, people had to pass three Fatah roadblocks, and nearby a Hamas gunman told a motorist who slowed to look at damage: "Go ahead and drive. Otherwise, your car will look like this."

The sides have been locked in a power struggle since Hamas defeated the long-ruling Fatah party in legislative elections a year ago.

The tensions have brought worsening violence. The bloodiest round erupted Thursday, with 28 people killed and more than 230 wounded in four days.

The Hamas-allied Islamic University was badly hit. Nearly all its nine buildings had extensive damage from rocket fire and blazes set by Fatah forces. Computers were looted, classrooms reduced to rubble and science laboratories destroyed.

Awni Abdel Kader, the university's head librarian, said 3,000 reference books were destroyed, including religious works and rare books.

A few students and workers entered Sunday to inspect damage.

"God punish them," one veiled student wailed as she left a building.

On Sunday, Hamas gunmen attacked bases of Fatah-allied troops with mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades before the announcement of yet another truce.

Forces pulled back, Hamas and Fatah officials conducted joint patrols and police replaced gunmen on rooftops. The rivals also began releasing hostages, officials said.

Previous truces have been short-lived, however, and Hamas accused Fatah of kidnapping one of its fighters after the cease-fire began.

Sunday's truce began ahead of a planned meeting Tuesday between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Hamas' exiled leader, Khaled Mashaal, in Saudi Arabia. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas was also expected to attend.

Abbas is pushing Hamas to join his party in a moderate coalition to get international sanctions lifted against the Hamas-led government.

Hamas has rejected international demands that it renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist, despite the economic sanctions that have caused widespread hardship and left it unable to pay tens of thousands of civil servants.