Hamas seizes control of Gaza Str_ DEBKAfile Exclusive: Hamas to convert Fatah-controlled Mahmoud Abbas’ Presidential compound in N. Gaza City into mosque for victory prayer FridayJune 14, 2007, 5:21 PM (GMT+02:00) Fatah Presidential Guardsmen surrender in Gaza This will symbolize the Islamist character of the national Palestinian entity supplanting the defeated Palestinian Authority. At least 16 died in the fighting Thursday, some 90 in five days.Thursday morning, the Hamas Executive Force occupied two Fatah strongholds: the Preventive Security HQ and the National Security compound, dragging personnel out and shooting some on the spot. Half-naked Fatah prisoners were paraded in the streets. Masked Hamas fighters seized their US-made and Israeli equipment and vehicle number plates and rifled intelligence files, in the fortified building constructed with US military aid funds after hoisting a green Hamas flag. Hamas spokesmen poured contempt Thursday on PA chairman Mahmoud’s order to his elite presidential guard to strike back. The force’s commander ordered its troops into battle Wednesday, June 13, but they refused to fight. The Palestinian unity government is no more, says Hamas. It has been overthrown. Hamas also sneered at Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s assertion that he would propose an international force for the strategic Philadelphi Route in his White House talks next week. Any foreign force will be resisted in the same way as an Israeli occupation army, they said.Read DEBKAfile’s Exclusive Log of the five-day Hamas blitz which brought about the downfall of Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah-dominated forces in the Gaza Strip. http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1282