Fatah and Hamas go to the brink

Palestinian Fatah and Hamas militants are fighting an all-out battle for control in Gaza and the West Bank.

Fatah has accused its government coalition partner of plotting a coup to seize full power.

Fatah has taken control of a Hamas television station in Ramallah as the escalating violence claims more and more lives.

After the attack on the television station, Hamas gave Fatah an ultimatum to pull out of key government buildings in Gaza city. When it did not, it attacked a Fatah security compound.

Mahmoud Abbas’s presidential headquarters in Ramallah has been mortar bombed.

A rocket-propelled grenade hit Hamas Prime Minister Ishmail Haniyeh’s house in Gaza City. Hamas claimed it was a Fatah attempt to assassinate him.

As Fatah now decides whether to pull out of the three-month-old unity government with Hamas, with a decision due after a meeting of Fatah’s central committee this evening, the people of Gaza are already fleeing.

They have been arriving in droves at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt looking for an escape route from the violence.

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