Gaza – Ma'an – A fifty-year-old woman, Hiyam Saqir, was killed and more than 17 Palestinians were injured in fighting which erupted between Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Saturday evening in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.

During the conflict the two warring factions committed tit-for-tat kidnappings and at least 15 Palestinians were abducted.

Palestinian medical sources reported that more than ten Palestinians were wounded, including an activist from Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades and a police officer affiliated to the de facto Interior Ministry in Gaza.

The reasons for the clashes are unknown.

Just hours after the fighting, the two factions issued a joint statement announcing that they were able to contain the violence after an agreement was reached to withdraw gunmen from the streets and exchange abductees.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) mediated to reach an agreement to end the fighting.