JERUSALEM, Dec. 19 — Street battles between rival Palestinian factions, including a shootout on the grounds of Gaza City’s main hospital, continued Tuesday, leaving at least five people dead and nearly 20 wounded.After another chaotic day in the Gaza Strip, security chiefs from the feuding groups, Hamas and Fatah, said Tuesday night that they had reached a new agreement to remove gunmen from the streets. But it is not clear whether that deal will be more successful than a cease-fire announced Sunday night.
The Sunday night cease-fire did nothing to halt the bloodletting in Gaza, which has included some of the worst internal fighting since the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994.
But in a renewed effort, Egyptian diplomats on Tuesday brought together the Palestinian interior minister, Said Siam of Hamas, and the heads of the Palestinian security forces in Gaza City, most of whom are from Fatah.
The Palestinians agreed that the factions would remove their gunmen from the streets and that the multiple security force branches would establish a joint operating center.