Gun battles raged between Hamas loyalists and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' forces in Gaza City yesterday, killing at least five people and reviving fears the strip was sliding into civil war.

Hospital officials said the bodies of two security men loyal to Abbas' Fatah faction had also been dumped in a street after they were abducted earlier in the day.

Concerned events were spinning out of control, Western and Arab nations urged a halt to the fighting.

The internal violence, the worst in living memory, has escalated since Abbas called for early elections on Saturday in an attempt to break a political deadlock with the Hamas government. Hamas has accused Abbas of launching a "coup."

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, was expected to make a speech in Gaza later yesterday local time to respond to Abbas' election call. Hamas has said it would boycott any polls.

In Gaza City, civilians fled for safety and some shops closed as gunmen fought running battles with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

"This is madness," said taxi driver Adel Mohammad-Ali, 40. "The streets are divided between Hamas and Fatah gunmen. You never know who is who."

Abbas issued a statement calling on all factions "without exception" to observe a ceasefire agreed late on Sunday but which barely lasted 24 hours.

US Secretary of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the violence had to stop.

"We hope that there will in fact be a ceasefire between the parties. That is very important," Rice said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television to be broadcast later yesterday local time.

Jordan offers to host talks

Jordan's King Abdullah II yesterday offered to host talks between the Palestinian president and the leader of Hamas to resolve the bloody confrontation between their factions.

Abdullah's call came after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made a surprise visit to the Jordanian capital and held talks with the monarch about reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia also urged Palestinians to overcome their differences.

The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said Egyptian security officials had brokered a deal for members of rival security services to leave the streets and return to their headquarters.

The deal required various factions to also free hostages they were holding, ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal said.

Abbas said on Monday he was committed to early elections but left the door open for the formation of a Fatah-Hamas coalition with a "technocrat" cabinet that could satisfy the West.

Hamas and Fatah tried for months to form a unity government to end a power struggle, but talks foundered, essentially over Hamas's unwillingness to soften its stance toward Israel. Hamas beat Fatah in January elections.

Both Hamas and Fatah blamed each other for the surge in street fighting in Gaza City.

Two security men from a force loyal to Fatah were among those killed, hospital officials said. Five children were wounded after getting caught in crossfire.

Source: China Daily