An “immediate and lasting ceasefire” was declared on Monday at the Ain Al-Hilweh “Palestinian refugee camp” in Lebanon following renewed clashes which left several people dead and dozens wounded, The Associated Press reported.
The declaration came after a top Lebanese general met with officials from rival Palestinian Arab factions.
The announcement was made in Beirut by the General Security Directorate. The new ceasefire failed to halt the fighting, however. It was the latest in a series of ceasefires that only lasted for hours before fighting erupted again.
Renewed fighting broke out late last week in Ain Al-Hilweh refugee camp on the outskirts of the coastal city of Sidon, just weeks after deadly violence pitted members of Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement against Islamist militants.
The latest fighting has left six people dead and more than 50 wounded according to medical officials and state media.
Clashes erupted as Fatah and other allied militant factions in the camp had intended to crack down on suspects accused of killing Fatah military general, Abu Ashraf al Armoushi, in the camp in late July.
One of the men suspected of being involved in Armoushi’s killing, Izzedine Abu Dawoud, was critically wounded Monday inside the camp and rushed to hospital where doctors announced him as “clinically dead,” Lebanese security officials said, according to AP.
Lebanese residents who are registered as “Palestinian refugees” and their descendants who were born in that country reside in residential neighborhoods known as "refugee camps", have limited work options and are refused citizenship.
Lebanon refuses to naturalize the “Palestinian refugees” and has stressed the need to work for their return to their country of origin, which Palestinian Arabs claim is Israel.