Dubai: Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world were left yesterday to come to terms with the stunning fall of the Gaza Strip into the hands of the Hamas movement following a week of bloodshed against the rival Fatah faction.
Israel meanwhile decided to sit and watch and the United Nations raised the possibility of sending for the first time an international force to be deployed along the border with neighbouring Egypt.
"Gaza is lost," a senior aide to President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted by agencies as telling diplomats on Thursday.
Late Thursday night, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas sacked the Hamas-led unity government and declared a state of emergency, presidency secretary general Tayeb Abdul Rahim announced.
The emergency was prompted by "the criminal war in the Gaza Strip, the taking over of the security services of the Palestinian National Authority, the military coup and the armed rebellion by outlaws," a presidential decree said.
Hamas said it rejected Abbas's decrees dissolving the government. "Hamas rejects the Abbas decisions. In practical terms these decisions are worthless. Prime Minister Esmail Haniya remains the head of the government even if it was dissolved by the president," Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Earlier, Hamas declared "victory" after a week of bloody fighting that left civilians and at least 100 fighters from both sides dead. The Hamas declaration came after its fighters seized control of the Preventive Security headquarters in Gaza City, one of the last Fatah bastions.
In a statement, Abu Zuhri declared in Gaza: "What happened today in the Preventive Security headquarters was the second liberation of the Gaza Strip, this time from the herds of collaborators," the first being the 2005 pullout of Israeli troops and colonists.
Hamas' armed wing said its gunmen "executed" Samih Al Madhoun, leader of the Fatah military wing. Yesterday's development brought Palestinians closer to division between Gaza and the West Bank, where Fatah holds sway - and farther from their dream of an independent state.
Israeli officials said they had no good options left by Hamas' take-over of the territory. Any Israeli assault on Hamas could inflame the region, they said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon raised the possibility of "an international presence" along the Gaza-Egypt border.
