Hamas' security forces released on Friday several Gaza-based senior leaders of rival Fatah movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) after briefly detaining them.
Zakareya el-Agha, top Fatah leader and member of the PLO executive committee, and Ibrahim Abu el-Najja and three other senior leaders of Fatah movement were detained earlier in the day by Hamas' Executive Force, a paramilitary group.
Fatah movement said in a press statement that the senior leaders were released after they were held for five hours into one of the executive force detention centers.
The Executive Force detained them after they arrived at an opened area in western Gaza City for Friday's weekly prayers. They called on the Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to pray Friday's prayers in public squares, which was banned by Hamas.
Fatah claimed that Hamas had sacked moderate Imams of several mosques in the Gaza Strip, and replaced them with Hamas Imams, who use the prayers in the mosques to incite against the leadership of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Abbas' Fatah movement.
"Hamas practices in the Gaza Strip are a total violation of human rights conventions and laws," el-Agha told reporters.
"They prevent us from prayers. We don't accept such an action that contradicts with principles of law," he said.
On Friday, about 30 Palestinians were wounded in clash with the Executive Force. Dozen others were arrested by the force from the streets and nearby mosques in Gaza City.
On Tuesday, Hamas had issued a statement which prohibited what it called "the political prayers" on Fridays in public and opened areas in the Gaza Strip.
The decision of no public prayer was made as the rival Fatah movement has been calling for public prayers on Fridays in the Strip.
Last Friday, clashes erupted between Fatah supporters and Hamas executive security forces in Gaza, where at least 20 were wounded and dozen others detained.
Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in mid-June after its militants defeated Abbas' Fatah militants, which prompted Abbas to sack the Hamas-led Palestinian government.
As a result, the geographically-divided Palestinian territories has been politically split into two parts -- with Hamas controlling Gaza and Fatah holding the West Bank.
Source: Xinhua
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