Hamas accused of TV raid
Gunmen have destroyed broadcasting equipment in an office of Palestine TV, accusing it of favouring the Fatah faction over Hamas in its coverage.
Muhammad ad-Dahudi, director of Palestine Television, said on Monday that “dozens of Hamas gunmen and members of a back-up force of the interior minister … are setting equipment on fire” at the office in the Gaza Strip.
The channel is under the control of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and leader of Fatah.
Bassam Abd Allah, a Palestine TV cameraman, said that “around 100 gunmen … destroyed cameras, and hit me and the bureau chief, Ahmed Saqer”.
Sami al-Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, has denied that Hamas was involved in the attack.
Pro-Fatah claim
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Sami Abu Zuhri has denied |
Palestine TV staff said the men shot broadcasting equipment, computers and a transmitter that feeds reports from Khan Yunus to a studio in Gaza City. They said the gunmen shouted that Palestine TV was distorting the truth and that its coverage had a pro-Fatah slant.
Two employees said they were beaten by the gunmen.
“They made us come out raising our hands high up,” one told Reuters by telephone. “The whole place is ruined.”
The employee said the gunmen raided the facility after attending a funeral for a Hamas member shot dead on Sunday. Hamas blamed Fatah gunmen for his death.
Armed violence between rival Palestinian factions has been increasing in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has deployed a new security force against Abbas’s wishes.
Five Palestinians were killed in clashes between gunmen in Gaza on Sunday.