GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas said yesterday it had "uprooted" the last major pocket of armed resistance to its 14-month rule in the Gaza Strip, saying it seized mortars, grenade launchers and other weapons from a once-powerful clan allied with the rival Fatah movement.
Dozens of members of the Hilles clan were being held by Hamas, while dozens more who fled to Israel to avoid capture during weekend fighting were given asylum yesterday in the Fatah-ruled West Bank.
In a small sign of defiance, Hilles families sent children outdoors wrapped in bright-yellow Fatah flags, saying they hoped the sight would annoy Hamas fighters patrolling the neighborhood.
Saturday's attack on the Hilles stronghold in Gaza City's Shijaiyeh neighborhood, which killed 11 people and wounded dozens, marked a fresh setback for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the head of Fatah.
His writ runs mainly in the West Bank, and even there has been weakened by his failure to win concessions from Israel in peace talks.
The defeat of the Hilles clan, one of Fatah's last high-profile bastions in Gaza, underscores Hamas' tightening control in the coastal territory seized by its fighters in bloody fighting last year.
Abbas still has a base of support in Gaza, including tens of thousands who draw government salaries from the West Bank, but the movement has been stripped of offices, media outlets, and, most important, its armed forces.
The rising tensions between Hamas and Fatah were triggered by a July 25 bombing at a Gaza City beach hut where Hamas was holding a picnic. The blast killed five Hamas men and a 6-year-old girl.
Islam Shahwan, spokesman for Hamas police, said the weekend raid - the bloodiest fighting since Hamas' Gaza takeover - sent a "clear message to all concerned."
"We do believe this was the last stronghold in Gaza," he said, referring to potential Hamas foes among the territory's many clans. "This stronghold had to be uprooted."
Shahwan said more than 100 Hilles men were detained and Hamas forces seized a large weapons stockpile, including mortars, assault rifles, land mines, and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
More than 180 clansmen ran toward Israeli positions Saturday afternoon when it became clear Hamas was about to take control of the neighborhood. After some delays, in part because of Hamas fire toward the border, Israel let in the fugitives, including wounded men.
A two-day odyssey ensued, with Abbas wavering whether he should allow the refugees to settle in the West Bank. He ruled out the idea Sunday, arguing Fatah needed to maintain a presence in Gaza.
More than 30 Hilles men were sent back to Gaza, and Hamas immediately arrested about half of them. Fearing Hamas retribution, a dozen in the group - still wearing the dark-blue coveralls given them by the Israelis - stayed in an Israeli-controlled buffer zone just inside Gaza.
The Israeli army then concluded those returning to Gaza faced imminent danger and decided not to send back Hilles men against their will.
In the end, 92 Hilles men, including the 12 who waited at the border, were taken to the West Bank town of Jericho yesterday. Sixty others went back to Gaza voluntarily, 16 remained in Israeli hospitals, and 13 were in Israeli custody, the Israeli military said.
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