Topic: Hamas

Hamas is currently attempting to rebuild a police system that collapsed when Hamas took the in Gaza Strip from the Fatah movement, Fatah Leaders meeting with Hamas leaders in Gaza City in a fresh move to push ahead with the rapprochement signed in April following years of bitter rivalry.

After five years in captivity by Hamas, Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit is released in a swap for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Egypt will open the Rafah border crossing on a daily basis starting this weekend in a bid to ease the blockade on the Gaza Strip. The decision to reopen the crossing on a permanent basis was discussed at recent reconciliation meetings between Fatah and Hamas.

The reconciliation agreement was signed between rival factions, Hamas and Fatah, in Cairo, Egypt, on May 4, 2011. The reconciliation agreement ends four years of hostile division between Hamas and Fatah and paves the way for a Palestinian general elections next year.

Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated in the West Bank and Gaza for national unity and an end to the Fatah-Hamas division.

Scores of Palestinians tried to block the entry of French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie's convoy into Gaza Friday, officials said.

A Palestinian mob surrounded the convoy as it headed for Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, Maariv said.

Protesters held posters calling for Alliot-Marie to leave, some of them threw shoes at her vehicle and one briefly jumped on top of it, Agenzia Giornalistica Italia reported.

Hamas police eventually dispersed the crowd and allowed the convoy through, Haaretz said.

The Palestinian protesters, mainly relatives of Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israel, were angry about statements Alliot-Marie made at a meeting with the parents of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on Thursday, Maariv said.

The French foreign minister told Aviva and Noam Shalit in Jerusalem their son "has been held hostage for over four years," Maariv said. She said Shalit continues to be held in isolation and France is doing everything possible to secure his release.

Shalit has dual Israeli and French citizenship.

The soldier was on duty near the Gaza border in June 2006 when he was abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip. He has been held incommunicado ever since.

Israeli military officials denied an airstrike was responsible for an explosion at the Gaza home of a Hamas commander early Monday.

Palestinian media reports claimed an Israel air force jet fired a missile at the house; however, the Israeli army said there were no activities in the Gaza Strip at the time of the blast.

An Israeli security official told Israel Radio the explosion may have been the result of a work accident, that a bomb being prepared blew up prematurely.

The force of the blast demolished the home of the Hamas commander identified as Alaa al-Danaf, and five other surrounding buildings in Dir al-Ballah in central Gaza, the Maan news agency said.

Danaf a senior member of the Hamas military wing is also a bomb expert, Palestinian media reports said.

Adham Abu Salmiyya, a medical service worker, told the news agency a missile was fired from an Israeli Air Force jet and hit the home.

Violence erupted in Jerusalem after Hamas called for a "Day of Rage" to protest the consecration yesterday of the restored Hurva Synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas marked the one-year anniversary of the Israeli military incursion into Gaza by blasting air raid sirens, observers said.
But only about 3,000 Hamas members turned out Sunday for a commemoration of the losses suffered in Operation Cast Lead, which began Dec. 27, 2008, the Voice of America reported.
Instead, VOA said, the Palestinian public mainly ignored the event, walking down streets and speeding by in cars as usual.
Operation Cast Lead killed 1,400 Palestinians, Hamas says, while 13 Israeli soldiers also died. Israeli leaders say it was an exercise in self defense after enduring years of rocket attacks launched from Gaza while Hamas and United Nations observers contend Israel committed war crimes in the incursion.
VOA said the fighting left Gaza even poorer than it was before, as buildings destroyed in the attack remain rubble due to the economic blockade Jerusalem has imposed on the Palestinian enclave since Hamas gained control in 2007. VOA said Israel bans the importation of concrete into Gaza for fear Hamas will use it to build a military infrastructure.