Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh announced Wednesday that he was cutting short a month-long foreign trip, hours after a prominent member of Hamas was shtot dead in the southern Gaza Strip.

The man, a judge and senior member of the Hamas military wing, was shot dead Wednesday morning by armed men outside a courthouse in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Palestinian security officials identified the dead man as Bassam al-Fara, 30, a judge at the Islamic court and a member of the largest clan in Khan Yunis.

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Witnesses said four gunmen ambushed al-Fara, opening fire as he emerged from his car and began walking into the courthouse. Hospital officials said al-Fara's body was riddled with several bullets.

Haniyeh, also of Hamas, said in Sudan he would return to Gaza on Thursday. When he left Gaza on November 28 Haniyeh had planned to travel for a month, but this drew criticism because of the need to conclude negotiations on a new unity government and the political violence raging in the Palestinian territories.

"We need the prime minister to be here now to resolve the internal problems," Haniyeh's political adviser, Ahmed Youssef, said in Gaza on Wednesday.

Haniyeh dismissed fears of the violence in Gaza escalating to a civil war. "We want to assure you that words such as 'civil war' don't exist in our dictionary. They don't exist in our makeup, in our culture," Haniyeh told reporters in Khartoum.

He also criticised the deployment in Gaza of security forces loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and said the solution to violence was respect for Hamas's election victory.

"The comprehensive solution to this situation is to respect the will of the Palestinian people. Respect its democratic choices and stop the security movements on the ground," he said.

"We don't have time for internal feuds. We will protect the national unity of the Palestinian people and we will thwart any attempt to instigate an inter-Palestinian struggle," Haniyeh added.

The drive-by shooting came two days after the killing of the three young children of a Fatah-allied Palestinian intelligence officer, sparking renewed clashes between the rival Hamas and Fatah factions and raising the specter of a civil war among Palestinians.

Fauzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, condemned the killing and promised to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"This is an ugly crime committed against one of the field commanders of Hamas' military wing and one of the prominent figures in Hamas.

"The fingers that shot him are the same fingers that were involved in the killing of previous Hamas leaders," he said, adding that "Hamas is not going to forget the blood of its members, it is going to pursue and bring those who were involved in today's crime to justice".

Fatah spokesman Tawfik Abu Khoussa rejected the accusations. "We condemn all acts of anarchy whatever may be behind them, we call on the brothers in Hamas to stop firing accusations before the investigation," he said.

But other Fatah officials noted that al-Fara had been involved in previous attacks against Fatah members.

Dozens gathered at the point of the shooting and Palestinian security set up roadblocks. Hamas militants also set up their own roadblocks throughout town, searching for the gunmen.