Gaza rivals pull back, free some hostages
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Gunmen began withdrawing from Gaza's streets, some hostages were released and many shops reopened on Sunday as a shaky ceasefire appeared to be taking hold in factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah, residents said.
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JERUSALEM -- Embattled leaders Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat rebuffed demands from their backers yesterday, holding steadfast to positions posing great political risk: Sharon insisted he will press on with efforts to pull out of Gaza despite a stinging rebuke from his party, while Arafat refused to sign reform legislation.
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Hamas fighters on Thursday captured one of the last bastions of forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Islamists declared the "liberation" of the Gaza Strip.
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Israeli forces pulled back on Thursday after a raid into the northern Gaza Strip a day earlier in which troops killed 11 people in clashes with local gunmen and prompted calls for revenge from Hamas militants.
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Hamas Islamist fighters appeared in command of much of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after battering forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
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JERUSALEM, July 4 -- The kidnappers of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston released him Wednesday to a Hamas-run security force in the Gaza Strip, setting him free after 114 days of captivity.
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The Hamas-led police force and the Fatah-dominated Preventive Security force began swapping prisoners on Tuesday that each side took hostage during a surge of Palestinian infighting, officials said.
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The Hamas-led government won the freedom of the two journalists, but the deal may make it harder to gain the release of a captured Israeli soldier
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Israel freed more than 250 Palestinian prisoners on Friday as part of a U.S.-backed deal to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas Islamists took over the Gaza Strip last month.
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Senior officials from rival Fatah and Hamas factions agreed on Saturday to pull their gunmen off the streets of Gaza but there was no immediate end to fighting that has killed 24 Palestinians in the last three days.
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Palestinians fight back as security forces try to stop exodus from Gaza through Rafah wall.
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JERUSALEM, July 4 -- An ebullient and relieved Alan Johnston, the BBC correspondent set free Wednesday after 114 days as a captive in the Gaza Strip, suggested that the turning point leading to his release was Hamas's takeover of the strip.
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RAFAH, Egypt  - Palestinians streamed home through the breaches in Gaza's border with Egypt on Sunday as Egyptian authorities choked off supplies to the area and moved to restore control.
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A truce between rival Palestinian factions in Gaza appears to take hold after days of deadly clashes.
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Militants claiming responsibility for the kidnapping of three foreign United Nations elections workers said Monday that they had separated the hostages to prevent
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Gunmen abducted two Italians working for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza on Tuesday and freed them eight hours later in the latest in a spate of kidnappings of foreigners in the Palestinian territory.
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Fatah members were fleeing Gaza Friday as Hamas began trying to round up the remaining elements of the rival faction, Hamas radio reported.