Between June 10 and June 15 of 2007, Hamas opened up an all-out war against the Fatah faction of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, and quickly took complete control over the Gaza Strip.
This war was actually the culmination of events that began in 2006, when Fatah lost the elections for parliament to Hamas.
Fatah refused to accept that they lost the popular vote and refused to join a Hamas led coalition.
PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, of the Fatah faction, began to try to find ways to remove Hamas. The idea of holding new elections was floated a number of times, but never happened.
Fatah and Hamas then began building up their separate armies. Fatah built up their Presidential Guard, while Hamas built up their Executive Force.
The battles began on June 10th with clashes between the competing forces, throwing each other off tall buildings, and assassination attempts.
During that week in June, it’s estimated that 118 people were killed. Another 550 people were wounded.
And in the end, Fatah was no longer in charge in Gaza.
