Hamas's "Executive Force" gains strength in Gaza
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They call themselves the "Executive Force" of the Hamas-led government. Rivals prefer "Black Militia" or "Peshmerga" -- a word that literally means "those who face death" but is used by some Gazans for a gun-for-hire.
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NABLUS, West Bank  - Israeli forces seized a Palestinian cabinet minister and 32 other officials in the occupied West Bank and launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, stepping up a campaign against Hamas Islamists.
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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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Palestinian militant group Hamas has won a huge victory in local polls in Gaza, unofficial results indicate.
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The action is in line with a recent government decision to respond with sanctions to continued rocket fire from the Hamas-run territory.
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Israel's security cabinet approves a plan for a major operation in the Gaza Strip amid escalating violence.
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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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Hamas' seizure of the Gaza Strip could be a hollow victory. With Israel in control of Gaza's borders and the international community likely to shun it in favor of the Fatah-controlled West Bank, Hamas will have a hard time providing for the impoverished strip's 1.4 million inhabitants.
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Armored vehicles massed on Gaza's border Friday after Israel's security Cabinet approved a large-scale military operation - codenamed "Days of Penitence" - to stop Palestinian rocket fire.    Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz had ordered troops to "exact a price" from the militants, security officials said, after a Hamas rocket killed two children, ages 2 and 4, in an Israeli border town...
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Analysis: Air strikes have taken out some Hamas leaders and crews firing rockets at Israel. But many Palestinians perceive the Israeli actions as support for Fatah
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Hamas fighters captured one of the last bastions of forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday and the Islamists declared the "liberation" of the Gaza Strip.
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The Hamas-led government is open to the idea of joining a Palestinian task force that would support negotiations with Israel, the deputy prime minister from Hamas said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press.
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Hamas made significant gains against the ruling Fatah party in Thursday's municipal elections.
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KARNI, Gaza Strip  - Forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the ruling Hamas movement are pushing ahead with expansion plans despite a unity government deal, Palestinian and Western officials said.
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By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and The Associated Press. A prominent Hamas leader in the West Bank announced an apparent change in the Islamic militant movement&#39;s policy regarding
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Israel says its largest incursion in the Gaza Strip during four years of fighting is a victory. But Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, isn&#39;t admitting defeat.
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JERUSALEM, June 13 -- Hamas gunmen consolidated their hold over large swaths of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after attacking military posts controlled by the rival Fatah movement, whose own fighters responded with a daylight raid in the West Bank, broadening the civil strife.