(dpa) - President Mahmoud Abbas called Sunday for renewed talks between Fatah and Hamas, a day after the latest clashes between the two rival Palestinian movements killed at least 11 people and prompted 180 or more Fatah supporters to flee the enclave.
Over 100 people were injured in eastern Gaza City's Sheja'eya neighbourhood during gunbattles, which erupted early Saturday after Hamas security forces attempted to arrest members of the Fatah-allied Helles clan in its stronghold.
On Sunday, a relative calm returned to Gaza following what was termed the worst fighting since Hamas took over the enclave last year.
Hamas has been searching for suspects in a car bombing at Gaza City's beachside that killed five gunmen of its armed wing and a small girl last weekend.
The radical Islamic movement ruling Gaza responded with a crackdown on its Palestinian rivals, including the Fatah party of moderate President Mahmoud Abbas, which it blames for the blast.
Since the early morning raid by Hamas police on the Helles clan, who it said were hiding suspects behind the July 25 beachside bombing, a curfew has been in place in Sheja'eya.
The clan members resisted arrest. In all, eight members of the Helles family and two Hamas police officers were reported dead by Sunday in the ensuing fighting.
Furthermore, Palestinian witnesses and Israeli media reported that more than 180 members of the Helles clan fled their homes and went to a border crossing between eastern Gaza City and Israel after Hamas security forces took control of Sheja'eya.
Some were injured and at least two killed during additional gunbattles near the border, which included Israeli troops firing into the strip and Hamas militants firing into Israel, in the direction of their fleeing rivals.
Fatah supporters were allowed entry into Israel late Saturday, aided by the Israeli army. Some were moved to the Fatah-controlled West Bank, while around 20 of the injured were admitted to hospitals.
Fatah leader Ahmed Helles, better known as Abu Maher, and dozens of his clan's members were among those who escaped. Speaking from a hospital in Israel where he was receiving treatment for a leg injury, Helles on Sunday vowed to return to the enclave.
Hamas, Helles said, did not want "to see such a big and strong family like mine," Israel's Ynet news website reported. "Hamas knows it will pay a price for the blood spilt," he warned. Hamas on Sunday urged the clan and its supporters to return.
About 10 of the 32 people who returned to Gaza Sunday remained in custody, Gaza officials said.
Those who were not involved in acts that threatened the security of the Gaza Strip would "be immediately released and returned to their families," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri promised.
The Hamas crackdown had not targeted the Helles family but "some people who violated the law and used the clan as a shelter," Abu Zuhri said.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel filed an urgent appeal to the country's highest court Sunday evening, asking that it not return any of the "asylum seekers" to Gaza against their will, citing possible dangers they might face in the enclave.
The interior minister in the deposed Hamas government in Gaza, Said Siam, said Saturday his police detained several suspects.
He claimed his de facto government had a "list of names of Fatah leaders who were behind the Gaza beach explosions," the Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported.
He said that some of those detained were behind "previous" explosions that had plagued the Gaza Strip and that police also found weapons and explosives after raiding some of the Helles family's homes.
Fatah has denied any involvement in last weekend's Gaza beach blast.
A spokesman for Israel's Defence Ministry told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa Sunday that the Fatah supporters who had fled would be allowed to return to the Gaza Strip. The decision by Defence Minister Ehud Barak followed a request by Abbas, he said.
In Ramallah, Abbas' Fatah movement has threatened to take action against Hamas supporters in the West Bank if the latter does not stop its campaign against Fatah members in the Gaza Strip.
Fatah has demanded that Hamas end its crackdown against Fatah in Gaza and release all arrested Fatah member.
Abbas, from Amman, had pushed for dialogue saying, "We have no choice but to work together to bridge the gap between us and Hamas, which is also urged to accept what is logical, rational and legal."
However, some Fatah members in the West Bank were calling for Hamas to be outlawed.
Palestinian officials told dpa that the government in Ramallah may take steps against the military wing of Hamas, if the situation remained as is, but denied that it would outlaw the Islamic movement in its entirety.