A number of top Fatah representatives have been arrested in Gaza by Hamas security forces.
The move is certain to ratchet up tensions between the rival factions.
Yesterday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered his Fatah-dominated security services in the West Bank to release all pro-Hamas activists, however Hamas insists the activists had not been freed.
Hamas security men detained Ibrahim Abu an-Naja and Zakaria al-Agha, who were appointed by Mr Abbas to oversee Fatah in Gaza after Hamas seized control a year ago.
Hamas forces also arrested three local governors appointed by Mr Abbas, whose West Bank-based government is backed by the US and other Western powers.
Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri said the arrests in Gaza were intended to put pressure on Mr Abbas’ security forces to release Hamas activists detained in the occupied West Bank
He accused Fatah forces of trying to ‘liquidate’ Hamas and described the Gaza arrests as ‘temporary and limited.’
Despite the order yesterday, Abu Zuhri said none of the Hamas men have yet been freed.
‘When political arrests end in the West Bank, everything else will come to an end,’ he said.
Fatah official Abdallah Abdallah condemned the Gaza arrests, saying they ‘constitute the destruction of any Palestinian and Arab call to end the schism’ between Hamas and Fatah.
Tensions between the factions spiked a week ago after a series of bombings in Gaza, one of which killed five Hamas members and a girl. Hamas blamed Fatah for the blasts, a charge Fatah denied.
