Fighting intensifies in Gaza

Eight members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Presidential Guard have been killed by Hamas gunmen.

The guards were killed in an attack near Gaza's Karni commercial crossing with Israel.

It is the most serious incident in the recent fighting between Mr Abbas's Fatah force and those loyal to the ruling Hamas movement.

Meanwhile hundreds of Fatah fighters crossed into Gaza from Egypt as possible reinforcements against Hamas militants, although Fatah denied this.

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was briefly opened to readmit a 450-strong Fatah contingent into the coastal strip.

"The role of the security forces is to protect the security of the Palestinian people and not to take part in internal fighting," said Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, Fatah's spokesman in Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

"They had been sent for training. It was a rehabilitation course that had nothing with any intention of fighting Hamas, or anyone else".

The 450 fighters are thought to be loyal to Mr Abbas's national security adviser, Mohammad Dahlan. It is believed Mr Dahlan recently sent about 500 men loyal to Fatah to Egypt to receive more advanced instruction in police tactics.

Mr Abbas could also dispatch thousands of reinforcements from the occupied West Bank and draw upon the Jordan-based Badr Brigade, a Fatah-dominated force that includes at least 1,000 members.

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