TEL AVIV — In the worst outbreak of violence in the Gaza Strip since Hamas’ seizure of power, Israeli forces and helicopter warships killed 10 Palestinian fighters yesterday as Palestinian officials braced for a new wave of sectarian violence between Fatah and Islamic militants.
At least six of the militants were killed during a thwarted attack on an Israeli military post near the border with central Gaza, Islamic Jihad said.
Palestinian religious leaders allied with the rival Fatah and Hamas parties were braced for a new round of clashes today, the weekly Muslim day of prayer, a week after an outdoor Friday prayer service in Gaza ignited the worst sectarian violence since Islamic militants allied to Hamas seized power in the territory in June.
Fatah activists promised to defy a ban on public prayer services issued this week by Hamas, which they decried as a limitation on freedom of speech.
Sheik Mohammed Hussein, the chief Palestinian mufti and a Fatah ally, denounced the ban on outdoor services as running counter to the practice of using courtyards around Islam’s holiest mosques to handle an overflow of worshipers.
“This form of prayer is correct in Islam,” he said in a telephone interview with The Washington Times. “Doesn’t Hamas know that the prophet Muhammad had prayed outside the mosque when he was being harassed by the infidels who wanted to kill him?”
Hamas’ government in Gaza this week banned outdoor prayers after tens of thousands of Fatah supporters attended the services last Friday in the largest demonstration in Gaza against the rule of the Islamic militants.
A Hamas-linked religious figure justified the ban, explaining the planned prayer services are not in the public interest.
“In our case, the prayers that a certain political group in the Gaza Strip is calling for will only bring damage and war between the people,’’ said Mohammed Ayesh Abu Ras, a member of a prominent local group of Islamic scholars. “All guardians of society should ban such an activity in order to preserve peace in society.”
Separately, the Syrian government charged yesterday that Israeli aircraft dropped “munitions” inside Syria overnight and said its air defenses opened fire in a new escalation of tensions between the decades-old foes.
Syria stopped short of accusing Israel of purposely bombing its territory, and an Israeli spokesman said he could not comment on military operations.
Analysts speculated such a foray could have been probing Syria’s defenses or monitoring long-range missile bases. The reported path would have also taken the jets near Iran, whose growing power and anti-Israel government worry leaders of the Jewish state.
Yesterday’s violence resulted when militants came under Israeli helicopter fire while approaching the border fence in their cars, the Reuters news agency reported. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed that two vehicles in the area had been targeted.
A day earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s security Cabinet, under pressure to respond to recent rocket attacks by Gaza militants, decided against a broad offensive but to continue “pin-point attacks.”
“Today, many in Gaza paid with their lives for the [Palestinian] rocket fire,” Mr. Olmert said at a meeting of his ruling Kadima party. “We did it, we will continue to do it.”
Hamas succeeded in re-establishing law and order in some parts of Gaza, but its rule has also been characterized by complaints of a crackdown on personal liberties such as the ban on public protests and the limit on prayer gatherings.
“Hamas did not introduce Islam into the Palestinian people,” said a Fatah activist in Gaza who declined to give his name.
“We are planning to pray outside the centers of provocation. … This is a time for real confrontation,” he added.
c This article was based in part on wire service reports.
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