Five Palestinians, including four Fatah members and a woman bystander, were killed Wednesday as simmering internal tensions seemed to erupt once again in the Gaza Strip, after a lull of several weeks.

In the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis, three security officials loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas were killed Wednesday afternoon when unidentified gunmen attacked their vehicles, hospital officials said.

Abbas's Preventive Security force blamed the ruling Hamas movement for the attack.

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Before the ambush, the security officers stormed a house where they believed a colleague who had been kidnapped earlier in the day was being held, officials said in a statement.

Militants attacked the officers, and one was injured, the statement said.

When two of his colleagues driving a police car tried to bring him to the hospital, they were attacked near the hospital's entrance, the statement said. Two were killed in the attack and the third died later in hospital.

The three were named as Osama A-Shami, Anwar A-Najar and Osama Nasser.

After nightfall, three militant groups brought Hamas and Fatah officials in together in Khan Yunis and forged an accord to remove gunmen from the streets and release kidnapped activists, according to a participant in the meeting. It was unclear, however, whether this would lead to a truce in the rest of the Strip.

In a text message sent to reporters Wednesday evening, the Fatah leadership in Khan Yunis blamed Hamas for trying to "increase chaos" in Gaza and said loyalists had now been instructed to "defend themselves by any means necessary."

The 22-year-old woman, named as Mona Salahah, died in hospital Wednesday afternoon from head wounds sustained when she was caught in the cross-fire crossfire during Hamas-Fatah gunbattles in northern Gaza. Another 12 people were moderately wounded, hospital and security officials said.

Wednesday's violence in northern Gaza began when Ala Saniyah, a 25-year-old militant from Abbas' Fatah party was shot and killed in the town of Beit Lahia, setting off a round of gunbattles that sent rival gunmen pouring into the streets.

Fatah officials would not comment publicly on the shooting, but privately blamed Hamas. Local residents said the victim was on a rooftop with other Fatah gunmen when he was shot.

Hamas gunmen also kidnapped five Fatah loyalists Wednesday, according to Fatah officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Fatah and Hamas declared a truce in December to end weeks of deadly violence which escalated into running street battles in Gaza after Abbas called for early parliamentary and presidential elections to break a political deadlock with Hamas.

Hamas condemned Abbas' move as a coup to oust it less than a year after its surprise victory in the January parliamentary elections.

While Abbas has called for fresh elections, he has left the door open to talks with Hamas on forging a unity government that Palestinians hope will lead to the lifting of Western sanctions imposed on the Hamas administration.

On top of the internal chaos, general law and order has deteriorated in Gaza in recent months.

Abducted photographer's life 'at risk'
Palestinian colleagues of a Peruvian photographer abducted by gunmen this week demanded his release on Wednesday, saying the 50-year-old's life was in danger because he needed medicine for heart disease.

Sakher Abu El-Awn, Gaza office manager of the French news agency Agence France-Presse, said Jaime Razuri, who was seized outside the AFP Gaza City office on Monday, was taking several types of medication, including for the heart problem.

"We believe his life is at serious risk and we urge his captors to release him immediately," Abu El-Awn told Reuters.

Razuri's kidnapping is the latest in a spate of abductions of foreign journalists and aid workers in Gaza in the past year. All have been freed unharmed, most after one or two days in captivity.

No one has claimed responsibility for Razuri's abduction. All militant factions have condemned the incident.

Palestinian officials have expressed growing exasperation at the kidnappings. One senior Palestinian security official, who declined to be identified, said he advised all foreigners to leave Gaza until security conditions stabilized.

"We prefer that all foreigners leave Gaza because of the possibilities of more kidnappings," the official said, adding he had no specific intelligence of additional threats.

Militants have abducted foreigners usually to try to put pressure on the Palestinian government to give them jobs or press for the release of detained colleagues.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is part of Fatah movement, said its fighters had been cooperating with security services to search for Razuri.

"The captors of the journalist, whoever they are, must release him now," said spokesman Abu Qusai.

Razuri's colleagues have made appeals to the public for help on local radio stations.

In two separate incidents in October, gunmen in Gaza seized and held a Spanish aid worker and a photographer working for the Associated Press news agency for several hours.

In August, militants kept two journalists from the U.S. Fox News Channel captive for two weeks.

Some reports have suggested that captors had asked for money in return for the release of some foreign hostages in the past, but it has never been clear whether any payments were made.