Fighting between Hamas and Fatah gunmen continued for a second day in the Gaza Strip yesterday. Since Sunday, 11 Palestinians have been killed and more than 120 injured in heavy exchanges of fire in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Last night, Aiman Abu Jazar was killed in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, and 15 others were injured. Another Palestinian died after he succumbed to his injuries in Jericho, in the West Bank.

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On Sunday, the day the clashes began, nine Palestinians were killed and 105 were injured.

The clashes began after Interior Minister Saeed Sayem ordered Hamas security forces to disperse Fatah-affiliated security forces that were protesting in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas militiamen tried to disperse the Fatah gunmen in Khan Yunis by force, resulting in heavy exchanges of fire.

At the same time, Hamas forces surrounded the home of an officer in the Preventive Security apparatus, a predominantly Fatah force, and more fighting ensued.

In retaliation, Fatah supporters attacked Hamas offices throughout the West Bank, including the prime minister's offices in Ramallah, and torched them. The car of Education Minister Nasser al-Shaer was also destroyed.

Fatah supporters also tried to set the Palestinian parliament on fire, but failed.

In Nablus, Hamas and Fatah supporters exchanged fire into the night.

At about midnight on Sunday, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas spoke by telephone. Haniyeh issued a call to all Palestinians to exercise restraint.

Abbas, who is once more abroad, went on the air in Amman, Jordan, and called on all Fatah security organizations to avoid strikes and demonstrations, and on the Hamas security forces to leave Gaza's streets.

Members of the Egyptian security coordination team in the Gaza Strip also met with both sides to try to broker an end to the fighting.

Close to midnight Sunday, Interior Minister Sayem announced the Hamas security forces would return to their barracks in order to avoid further clashes.

Gaza was calm for most of the day yesterday. However in the West Bank, where Fatah has a clear advantage over Hamas, clashes resumed. Hamas offices in Bethlehem, Salfit, Jenin and Jericho were torched.

Fatah also announced a commercial strike to protest the incidents in the Gaza Strip.

In one instance, an attempt by Fatah gunmen to force the closure of a Jericho restaurant turned bloody, when a stray bullet bounced off the pavement and hit a waiter in the head, killing him.

Fatah gunmen also kidnapped, and later released, the director general of the Palestinian Finance Ministry in Ramallah, who is affiliated with Hamas.

Hamas gunmen attacked the Nablus home of Hassan Titi, a reporter for Reuters and Al Jazeera, early yesterday morning. According to Titi, the gunmen identified themselves as members of Hamas and called on him to come out of the house. They were angry at his report on the clashes between Fatah and Hamas.

Titi refused to leave his house, where his wife and five children were also staying, and the gunmen openned fire on the residence. They also destroyed Titi's car.

A senior adviser to Abbas, Nabil Amar, said yesterday the chairman is considering a number of options to extricate the Palestinian Authority from the current crisis. These include a referendum on early elections, and the establishment of an emergency government.

Amar did say, however, that efforts to make progress in talks for a national unity government were continuing.

A Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Salal al-Bardawil, confirmed that efforts for a unity government were ongoing and said Hamas was willing to set up such a government immediately on the basis of the prisoners' document, a joint manifesto of Fatah and Hamas leaders jailed in Israel.

Regarding the factional violence in the Palestinian Authority, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said yesterday, "Israel has no intention of intervening in Palestinian Authority domestic affairs," but said the defense establishment would continue keeping close tabs on developments there.