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Fatah property in Gaza hit by 10 blasts

No one has claimed for responsibility for up to 10 explosions that targeted the homes of leaders of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party in the Gaza Strip.

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Fayez Abu Eitta (L), a Fatah leader in Gaza, speaks on the phone as he inspects the damage to his car in the parking lot of his home (Getty: MOHAMMED ABED)

At least 10 explosions have hit houses and cars belonging to members of the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza, witnesses say.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties from the blasts, which were condemned by both Fatah and its Islamist rival Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip.

The stage for commemorations of next week's 10th anniversary of the death of iconic Palestinian leader and Fatah founder Yasser Arafat was also targeted in the blasts which struck in the space of a few hours before 6.30am.

It is the first time in years that a public commemoration of Arafat's death has been planned in Gaza.

Abbas loyalists were ousted from the territory in 2007 and rival administrations ruled in the West Bank and Gaza.

But earlier this year Hamas and Fatah struck a reconciliation agreement leading to the formation of a government of national unity.

Meanwhile the European Union's new foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, warned on Friday of a new wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence if there were no progress towards peace talks.

Speaking in Jerusalem on her first visit to the region since taking up the EU's top diplomatic post, Mogherini said there was a real "urgency" to pick up and advance the moribund peace process.

"The risk is that if we do not move forward on the political track, we will go back ... again to violence," she said at a joint news conference with her Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman.

"That's why I see the urgency in moving forward."

But she also flagged Israel's settlement building on lands the Palestinians want for a future state as an "obstacle" to a negotiated peace.

"New settlements are an obstacle as we see (it) but we also see that there might be a political will ... to resume the talks and specially (to) make sure that these talks bring to results," she said.


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