Palestinian Unity Breaks Out - I dead, several injured

The problem with this article from Ynet News is that it inadvertently gives the impression that all has been calm and well since Hamas and Fatah signed the Mecca Accord which is not the case.

Fighting erupted in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday and a Hamas gunman was killed, the first fatality in such clashes since the Islamist movement agreed with its Fatah rivals to form a unity government a month ago.

Explosions from mortar bombs and rocket-propelled grenades shook the town of Beit Hanoun in the early hours after a shootout for which each side blamed the other. Residents said at least one Hamas gunman had been wounded, along with two from Fatah.

The violence broke out just hours after Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the Islamist Hamas movement said a unity government would be announced in the next few days. The coalition agreement reached in the Saudi city of Mecca on Feb. 8 had halted weeks of bloody factional fighting in which more than 90 people were killed in the Gaza Strip.

The man killed in Sunday’s shootout was identified as Mohammad al-Kafarna, a member of the Hamas-led government’s Executive Force. Hamas accused Fatah of ambushing his car. Fatah spokesman Abdel-Halim Awad said Hamas fighters had fired first on a car carrying members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, linked to President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction.

Fighting quickly spread in Beit Hanoun as Hamas forces attacked a Fatah office and a separate security complex. Fatah security forces declared a high alert in northern Gaza, ordering their men to reinforce their positions and set up checkpoints to intercept Hamas vehicles.

Talk about watching a train wreck happen in slow motion.