Top Hamas leader in Beirut in a bid to stop clashes at Palestinian refugee camp

Smoke rises during clashes between gunmen from Fatah and rival Islamist factions in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, near the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, September 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises during clashes between gunmen from Fatah and rival Islamist factions in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, near the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, September 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A top Hamas leader arrives in Beirut to push for an end to clashes in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp that resumed despite multiple ceasefire agreements.

Days of fighting in the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp near the southern port city of Sidon left at least six people dead and over 50 others wounded, according to medical officials and state media. Stray bullets and shells hit residential areas in the country’s third-largest city, wounding five Lebanese soldiers at checkpoints near the camp yesterday.

A ceasefire declared late yesterday, after Lebanon’s head of the country’s General Security Directorate met with officials from rival Palestinian factions, lasted just hours before fighting erupted again.

Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk will meet with Lebanese officials and representatives from the Palestinian factions to try and reach a settlement to end the clashes, the militant group said in a statement.

Hamas has not taken part in the clashes.

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