Gaza descends into civil war

A supremacy struggle in the Gaza Strip is steadily escalating into civil war, Palestinian leaders have admitted.

Hamas Islamist fighters and Fatah forces loyal to Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas are battling for control of Gaza.

"What is happening in Gaza is madness," Mr Abbas, the Fatah leader, said in the occupied West Bank after meeting a foreign diplomat.

Chanting "stop the killing", some 1,000 Palestinians marched through Gaza City, but gunmen opened fire on the protesters, wounding at least five people. It was not immediately clear who had shot at them.

At least 17 people were killed in the day's violence, raising the death toll since the current surge of bloodshed began on Saturday to 65, hospital officials said.

And no end is in sight after a series of Egyptian-brokered truces failed.

Hamas's armed wing, which has tightened its hold on the northern Gaza Strip by seizing a major Fatah security base, said it was giving Fatah in that area until Friday evening to hand over their weapons.

There was no immediate response from Fatah to the statement.

The bloodshed has prompted Fatah, which appears to be losing ground to Hamas in Gaza, to say it was suspending participation in the unity government with Hamas without an immediate ceasefire.

The government was formed in March under Saudi mediation to try to end infighting and ease Western sanctions.

Mr Abbas's group stopped short of withdrawing outright, a move that could lead to presidential rule by decree and widen a divide between the occupied West Bank, where Fatah is dominant and factional fighting is rare, and Gaza, the Hamas powerbase.

Israel, which has said it intends to stay out of the internal violence, said the outcome of the fighting would weigh heavily on prospects for a peace deal with the Palestinians.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said: "If Hamas takes control of Gaza, this will be significant not only for what happens in Gaza but for the ability to reach agreements with (Mr Abbas) and whether it would be possible to implement them in Gaza.

"There is almost a complete separation between Gaza and the West Bank."

Mr Abbas has failed to persuade Hamas to accept Western demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by previous Israeli-Palestinian interim peace deals - conditions for ending international sanctions that have deepened Palestinian poverty.

Hamas and Fatah have been locked in a violent power struggle since Hamas defeated Fatah in January 2006 elections.

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