Middle East:Israel renewed its aerial attacks on Hamas in the Gaza Strip yesterday, as fighting between the Islamic group and the Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas claimed at least 16 lives.
A barrage of rocket fire into Israel sent hundreds of residents fleeing their homes in the southern town of Sderot.
In one of the bloodiest attacks, six Fatah guards were killed after Hamas gunmen stormed the home of Mr Abbas's top security chief in Gaza.
Yesterday's deaths brought to 37 the number of Palestinians killed since the internecine warfare erupted over the weekend.
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, last night approved a "severe and harsh" response to the rocket fire, raising speculation that Israel might launch a ground raid inside Gaza.
In the deadliest incident yesterday, Hamas militants ambushed a vehicle belonging to one of the arms of the Palestinian Authority security services allied to Mr Abbas.
Gunmen riddled the vehicle with bullets, killing all seven people inside.
It soon emerged, however, that five of the passengers were Hamas militants who had been detained and were being taken to lock-up. The other two men killed belonged to the Abbas-allied security service.
In the attack on the home of Rashid Abu Shbak, Mr Abbas's top security chief in Gaza, Hamas gunmen killed six bodyguards and burned down the house. Mr Abu Shbak and his family were not home at the time of the attack.
Mortar shells were also fired by Hamas militants at the Gaza compound containing the offices of Mr Abbas.
In another incident, eight people were injured when gunmen fired at about 200 protesters who had gathered in Gaza City to demonstrate against the factional violence.
The streets of Gaza were largely deserted yesterday as masked men armed with semi-automatic rifles patrolled intersections and residents cowered in their homes, trying to shelter from the street battles.
The Hamas/Fatah clashes this week are the worst since more than 100 Palestinians were killed in factional struggles earlier this year.
That round of bloodletting ended after Hamas, which won an election in January 2006, agreed to share power with Fatah.
But the unity government deal, brokered by the Saudis, left the issue of who would control the security forces unresolved, sowing the seeds for the latest round of violence.
"What is happening in Gaza endangers not only the unity government but the Palestinian social fabric, the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian strategy as a whole," said Saeb Erekat, a close associate of Mr Abbas.
Hamas seemed to be trying to draw Israel into the conflict yesterday as militants fired almost 20 rockets into Israel, with at least eight landing in Sderot. Two women were injured when a rocket hit their home.
After a hiatus of several months, Israeli aircraft renewed attacks in Gaza yesterday, targeting a command post belonging to Hamas in the southern town of Rafah. Four militants were killed in the strike and another 20 were injured.
While Mr Olmert, under growing public pressure to respond to the rocket attacks, threatened a harsh response, deputy defence minister Ephraim Sneh conceded that the situation in Gaza was "complicated" and that there was "no magical solution" to the rocket fire.
Tzahi Hanegbi, a close associate of the prime minister and chairman of the foreign affairs and defence committee in parliament, played down the idea of a wide-ranging ground operation in the strip.
Israel, he said, "mustn't rush back into Gaza", but should carry out pinpoint attacks.