Fighting between Hamas and Fatah leaves four dead

Four people were killed and at least 40 injured yesterday in the worst day of internal fighting in Gaza for weeks. Amid loud explosions and gunfire in Gaza City, Hamas security forces took control of a Fatah stronghold and arrested dozens of people.

The fighting raged for most of the day in the Shijaiyeh neighbourhood, which is home to 100,000 people. It began after Hamas fighters raided the family home of the Fatah-linked Hilles clan, looking for suspects in a car-bomb attack a week earlier that killed six people.

Yesterday hundreds of Hamas soldiers were patrolling the streets and searching houses in one of the biggest operations since the group seized power in Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in 2007.

Meanwhile, five Palestinians were killed and 18 wounded in a tunnel used for smuggling under the Gaza-Egypt border after Egyptian troops blew up the entrance late on Friday.