Fatah leader freed

GAZA CITY: Hamas-led security forces freed the top leader of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas' Fatah party in the Gaza Strip yesterday after a week-long crackdown across the impoverished territory. "We have released Zakaria Al Agha as a sign of goodwill and in response to Arab and Palestinian efforts," a Hamas spokesman said. Agha had been detained by Hamas gunmen on Friday as part of a wave of arrests of Fatah supporters after a deadly beachside bombing killed five senior Hamas fighters and a little girl. Hamas blamed the bombing on Fatah, which denied any involvement in the attack and later launched its own tit-for-tat arrest campaign in the Israeli-occupied... [read full story]