Rival Palestinian factions battled in the Gaza Strip today, raising the weekend death toll to at least three and 40 wounded in the fiercest internal fighting since a ceasefire was declared nearly a month ago.
Hours after Palestinian militants from Gaza infiltrated into Israel at a key border crossing using an armoured vehicle marked "TV", Israeli aircraft bombed a building used by Islamic Jihad, causing two injuries, local residents said.
The army confirmed the air strike targeted Islamic Jihad, which took part in Saturday's cross-border raid.
The army said a separate air strike targeted a weapons production facility used by a militant offshoot of Fatah which joined Islamic Jihad in the raid. Local residents said a dairy truck was hit but no one was hurt.
The heaviest fighting between the ruling Hamas Islamist group and President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction took place in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where hundreds of rival gunmen took up positions on street corners and rooftops.
Hamas and Fatah pounded each other's positions with rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns, according to locals, who took shelter indoors as the rivals fought block by block.
Two men from Fatah and one from Hamas were killed, hospital officials said. Hundreds including gunmen attended funerals for the slain men, but there were no immediate reports of violence.
Of the more than 40 Palestinians wounded in the fighting, at least 9 were in critical condition, hospital officials said. The number of injured overwhelmed the local hospital, forcing officials to send people to neighbouring towns for treatment.
The fighting also spread to Gaza City where a Hamas gunman was wounded by gunfire, hospital officials said. Hamas blamed the shooting on Fatah. Fatah had no immediate comment.