A top Palestinian official has announced a series of new measures to increase public safety and end factional strife in the Gaza Strip.
Rashid Abu Shbak, a senior security official said Saturday the measures include the disbanding of the Department of Protection and Security, a group Gazans have nicknamed "death squad. The 70-member squad has faced accusations of corruption and intimidating the public.
Mr. Shbak also announced that the dominant Fatah faction will work to merge its several militant groups in order to end intra-Palestinian violence and factional infighting.
Palestinian territories saw an upsurge in factional strife in the months preceding the death of longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died on November 11th.
Separately, a lecturer at Gaza City's al-Azhar university was killed when a bomb exploded at his university office.