By Saud Abu Ramadan

    GAZA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The taxi driver Kamal Ghanem finally decided to stop working on the deserted streets of Gaza City as he could barely find any business amid the ongoing factional fighting.

    Ghanem said he was afraid of being caught in crossfire as rival Palestinian militants continued their fierce battles on Sunday despite the truce agreement reached between them.

    "It's no more safe here. We have been in this situation for four days," said Ghanem.

    He, then, argued with a customer about where to drop him. The man wanted to get off at Omar al-Mukhtar Street in downtown Gaza, but Ghanem feared to go to that place.

    "Who can believe this vital street has turned into a battlefield," Ghanem wondered.

    Not far away, security members have installed roadblocks, preventing cars from approaching the major security compound.

    The heart of Gaza City has indeed become the battleground of the four-day-old clashes between militants loyal to Fatah movement led by President Mahmoud Abbas and fighters of the governing Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

    On Saturday, the two rivals agreed to an Egyptian-brokered deal of ceasefire. However, volleys of gunfire are still heard in Gaza on Sunday.

    Hospital sources announced that two members of the Presidential Guards died of wounds sustained earlier in the fighting, raising the death toll to at least 27 in the four-day clashes.

    The violence began last Thursday when Hamas militants intercepted trucks accused of carrying arms to forces loyal to President Abbas.

    However, Egypt and Abbas both bluntly denied such charge, saying the trucks were just delivering aid goods.

    The fighting was seen as part of a broader power struggle between Abbas and the governing Hamas which is isolated by the West for refusing to recognize Israel and renounce violence.

    Hamas has accused "coup-makers" among the Fatah movement of agreeing with American and Israeli plans to topple the Hamas-led government, which took office last March.

    As the bloodiest clashes since Abbas called for early legislative elections in December last year have relatively calmed down, officials from Fatah and Hamas started trading accusations on the media, violating the fresh deal which called for no incitement over the press.

    "The problem Hamas facing is its political leaders are unable to control their elements on the ground," said Fatah spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khousa. "Some members of Hamas don't want the ceasefire to succeed."

    According to Abu Khousa, Hamas gunmen have killed a security officer Saturday night in Gaza City hours after they agreed to the Egyptian brokered truce deal.

    But Information Minister Yousef Rezka of Hamas accused "the fifth column" of being behind the violation of the ninth such deal of calmness. "This column doesn't want the national agreement to happen."

    Urging "the people" to abide by the last deal, Rezka called on Fatah to withdraw its gunmen from streets. "It has been proved that the deployment of militants in the city center has blocked the people's movement."

    He also called on the Palestinian leaders to achieve results in the Mecca talks this week, which will host senior leaders of Hamas and Fatah upon an invitation by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, in a bid to reach an agreement on forming a national unity government.

    Saleh Zidan, a member of the politburo of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), expressed hope that the talks will be expanded to include all other factions.

    "The experience of talks between Hamas and Fatah has proved the two powerful movements are unable to alone overcome the authorities they created," Zidan told Xinhua.

    "The roots of the problem must be resolved...the polarization has created two separated authorities instead of one authority with two heads," Zidan explained.

    As for the current ceasefire deal, political analyst Hazem Abu Shanab has questioned the feasibility of such agreement by the factions.

    "The political decision between the factions is still absent and the previous bids of ceasefire did not work," Abu Shanab told Xinhua.

    "In order to get the deal working, one side must achieve important part of its political goals or, otherwise, be defeated on the ground to the degree that forces it to make concessions," he suggested.