By Xinhua
Washington/Riyadh: The US and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have separately called for an immediate halt of violence between Fatah and Hamas militants in the Gaza strip of Palestine.
“The Palestinian people need to have a safe and secure environment to be able to live, to be able to move forward with their lives,” said State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey Tuesday. “We definitely want to see an end to that violence and would call on all the parties involved to act responsibly.”
Meanwhile, the GCC at its ninth summit meeting in Riyadh Tuesday, asked the Palestinians to observe the agreement signed in Mecca in February, when a Palestinian unity government was brokered.
The tensions in the Gaza Strip have been running high for days, especially after the death of six Palestinians in a sudden surge of violence Sunday. At least 27 people have been killed in renewed clashes between the rival Fatah and Hamas.
Two truces, one brokered by Egypt and the other by Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya of Hamas, have failed to calm the tension between rival Fatah and Hamas movements.