GAZA, June 8 (UPI) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya called Friday for an end to factional violence between his Hamas Party and Fatah.
Haniya made his statement before Friday prayer services, suggesting Fatah is responsible, The New York Times reported.
"We are not in need of more agreements, but we are in need of the political will to implement the existing agreements," Haniya said. "There are parties who do not want stability in the internal Palestinian situation."
The two parties are nominally joined in a unity government for the Palestinian Authority. But the toll of dead and injured in inter-party warfare continues to rise.
On Monday, Hassan al-Bazzam, one of Haniya's bodyguards, was kidnapped. He said later he was held for seven hours, beaten and tortured with hot wax and cigarettes and told to curse God and Mohammed. His captors shaved the number 17 into his hair, suggesting that they were members of Fatah's Force 17.
