Former Palestinian minister abducted in Gaza

GAZA CITY: A senior Fatah official, Sofiane Abu Zaida, was kidnapped Monday in the northern Gaza Strip despite a truce between his faction and the ruling Hamas movement, a party spokesman said.   

"Two cars of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades stopped the vehicle of Sofiane Abu Zaida in Jabaliya, forced him out and kidnapped him. He was alone," said Abdelhakim Awad, referring to the armed wing of the ruling Hamas movement.   

"This kidnapping came after an agreement was reached to liberate all the hostages," he said, referring to five Fatah loyalists and four Hamas members who were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip earlier in the day.   

The kidnapping came hours after a Fatah loyalist was killed when gunmen opened fire on a welfare organization in Jabaliya. Late Sunday, Fatah and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire after two days of internecine clashes left four people dead and several dozen wounded in Gaza.   

A Fatah colonel was killed shortly after the agreement came into effect, but otherwise the truce had been holding until Monday's incidents in Jabaliya.   

The violence erupted after president Mahmud Abbas called for early elections in a move the ruling Islamists warned was tantamount to a call for civil war.   

Abu Zaida served as a prisoner affairs minister in the Fatah-dominated government before Hamas swept a January election and formed a cabinet three months later.