January 1, 2006	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 29, 1426

GAZA CITY, Dec 31: Dozens of armed militants briefly took control of Palestinian Authority buildings in a town in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

The assault was carried out by members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah faction, security sources said.

It occurred shortly after the release of a British humanitarian worker and her parents who had been taken hostage by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip three days ago, the latest in a string of similar abductions.

Israel was also on alert for possible Palestinian attacks as the country celebrated the New Year and the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, and the army kept up a bombardment of a ‘no-go’ area in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Al Aqsa men had occupied post offices and the local governor’s office in Deir El Balah, the central Gaza Strip, after expelling employees and surrounding interior ministry offices, the Palestinian security sources said.

Al Aqsa said the militants were demanding jobs, and after receiving assurances that their requests would be heard, left the buildings.

Similar incidents have multiplied in Gaza since the pullout of Israeli settlers and soldiers, with Mr Abbas struggling to maintain security control in the territory.

50 ALERTS: Israeli television and public radio reported no less than 50 security alerts, about 10 of them concrete, about attacks being plotted by Palestinian armed groups to mark the holidays.

Police patrols were strengthened on all roads leading to Jerusalem and along the border between Israel and the occupied West Bank.—AFP