(AFP) – Aug 2, 2008

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Israel has allowed more than 180 members of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party to flee the Gaza Strip after a wave of deadly clashes with Hamas, the army said on Sunday.

"More than 180 Palestinians from Fatah were authorised to take refuge in Israel. Twenty-two of them were wounded and were hospitalised," an army spokeswoman said.

She added that the decision was a "humanitarian gesture" by Israel to Abbas's Western-backed Palestinian Authority, whose forces were routed from Gaza when Hamas seized power in the impoverished territory in June 2007.

Dozens of Fatah men fled the Gaza Strip Saturday through the Nahal Oz crossing after clashes erupted between Islamist Hamas-run security forces and the pro-Fatah Helis clan, killing nine people and wounding dozens more.

The fighting was the deadliest bout of inter-Palestinian violence since Hamas seized power and followed a week in which the Islamist movement cracked down on its Fatah rivals, detaining upwards of 300 people.

Tensions have been high in the impoverished coastal strip of 1.5 million people since a beachside bombing more than a week ago killed five senior Hamas militants and a little girl.

The Islamist movement quickly blamed Fatah, shut down dozens of offices, charities and sporting clubs tied to the group, and on Saturday accused several members of the Helis family of responsibility for the July 25 attack.

Fatah has denied any involvement in the explosion but in an apparent tit-for-tat arrest campaign Abbas's security forces detained dozens of Hamas members in the Israeli-occupied West Bank over the past week.

Following requests from Egypt and Abbas, Israel, which has been holding US-backed peace talks with the Palestinian leader since November, allowed the Fatah members to flee Gaza despite a months-old blockade.

"Our position on principle is that we work with and aid those among the Palestinians who struggle against radical Islam, who oppose terrorism, and who favour negotiations," Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon told army radio.

"This is why we take this position when these Palestinians are in distress and asking to go to (Abbas's headquarters in) Ramallah, where they will participate in the struggle against Hamas," he added.

Since Hamas seized power in Gaza Israel has sealed the territory off from all but limited humanitarian aid as Palestinian militants have launched hundreds of rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel.

The fighting was brought to a virtual halt on June 19 however when Israel and Palestinian militants entered into an Egyptian-brokered truce. Since then there have been only a few sporadic rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »