Hamas fighter: There are fears of a Palestinian civil war amid worsening clashes in Gaza.Palestinian hospital officials say 21 people have been killed and more than 100 have been wounded in a day of fierce gun battles between the rival Hamas and Fatah movements in Gaza.
The heaviest has toll occurred in the northern town of Jabaliya, where gunmen from the radical Islamist movement have besieged the local seat of the Fatah loyalist national security, the main Palestinian security force.
Twelve people have been reported killed in that battle.
Hamas says it has taken the base but a Fatah source denies it has fallen.
The largest Fatah security force loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is favoured by western powers, has been ordered onto the streets to defeat what his secular Fatah supporters call a "coup" by Hamas Islamists loyal to the Prime Minister.
Nine other people have died in other incidents around the impoverished coastal strip.
Forty-three people have been killed in the latest wave of violence to engulf Gaza, which broke out last Thursday.
Early yesterday, the Gaza homes of both Mr Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh were fired on.
The European Union says there is an imminent risk of civil war if fighting continues and United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has urged support for Mr Abbas' efforts "to restore law and order".
Mr Haniyeh and Mr Abbas have both called for restraint and talks but there has been little sign of fighters paying heed as each side accused the other of siding with their Israeli adversaries.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, an arch-foe of Hamas, has said for the first time that proposals to station international peacekeepers in Gaza should be given "serious consideration".
Israel has been cool on such ideas in the past but ministers have said lately such a force could cut off arms and supplies to Hamas.
Fatah base
Residents say Hamas gunmen swept into Fatah posts, capturing some in battles and others without a fight. They say the northern and central Gaza Strip are under Hamas control.
Accounts vary on how far Hamas fighters had taken control of the Fatah security base, one of several that they ordered evacuated three hours earlier in an unprecedented ultimatum.
Intense gunfire and explosions could be heard from the base of the National Security Forces (NSF).
Reinforcements from the NSF were later seen moving in vehicles through the deserted streets of Gaza City toward areas where Hamas had asserted control.
Mr Abbas convened a meeting of Fatah's Central Committee in the West Bank city of Ramallah, near Jerusalem, in the evening (local time).
Aides said leaders would decide whether to quit the Government they had formed in March under Mr Haniyeh in an effort to reduce tensions.
If they do leave, along with some independent ministers, Mr Abbas could fire the Government and try to rule by decree.
A new cabinet would need approval from the Hamas-dominated Parliament.
Most of the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million people took refuge in their homes. Crammed into a 45 kilometre sliver of coast and surrounded by an Israeli security cordon, they have little chance to flee through the restricted main crossing into Egypt.
Source : www.abc.net.au
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