Friday, August 8, 2008

Report: Fleeing Gazans interrogated on Shalit

"Egyptian sources tell Al-Hayat Israel questioned Fatah men who escaped Strip following fierce clashes with Hamas on whereabouts of captive soldier. 'Hamas trying to break IDF's morale,' one of them says

Israel interrogated dozens of Fatah-affiliated Palestinians who fled Gaza following clashes with Hamas last week on the whereabouts of captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, Egyptian sources were quoted as saying Friday by the London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat.

The sources said most of those questioned were residents of Gaza City's Sajaiyeh neighborhood, where clashes between Hamas security personnel and members of the Fatah-affiliated Hilles-clan on Saturday left at least 11 people dead and dozens more wounded.

Hamas security forces eventually asserted control in the Fatah stronghold, prompting residents with ties to Mahmoud Abbas' faction to flee the Strip. Many of them made their way to the Nahal Oz terminal at the Israel-Gaza border, where they were rescued by IDF forces and taken into Israel under mortar and machine gun fire......

Meanwhile, the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, Mousa Abu Marzouk told Al-Hayat "every time Israel further delays the implementation of a prisoner exchange deal, Hamas raises its demands. The deal's implementation is in Israel's hands, as Hamas has presented its demands and will never budge.""

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