GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas and Fatah gunmen fought in Gaza City's beachfront Palestinian neighbourhoods and around security compounds Saturday, ignoring renewed truce appeals and Arab mediation efforts.
One man was killed, raising the death toll from three days of fighting to 26.
Bursts of gunfire alternated with periods of calm and in areas of Gaza City not affected by the fighting, people tried to go about their lives. Boys played soccer in the streets, horse-drawn carts manoeuvred through alleys and shoppers stocked up on supplies for the next round of battle.
Nasser Mushtaha, who owns a high-rise near Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' compound, said members of Abbas' Presidential Guard were posted on his roof and at the entrance to the building. He said he received phone calls from Hamas members, who warned they would blow up the building, unless the troops left. But some of the guardsmen refused.
Mushtaha complained about his building being used as an outpost.
"Who will protect us? What is our fault? We are neither Fatah nor Hamas,'' he said, adding dozens of windows had already been shattered by bullets.
In the Sheik Radwan neighbourhood, Ali Ustaz used a lull to buy a battery-powered radio so he could follow developments, despite frequent power cuts.
"There is no hope for a solution,'' Ustaz said, referring to an elusive power-sharing deal between Abbas, the Fatah leader, and the Islamic-militant Hamas, the two factions grappling for control of the Palestinian government.
Abbas and Hamas's supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, are to meet Tuesday in the holy city Mecca, Saudi Arabia for a reconciliation hosted by Saudi King Abdullah. The highest-profile mediation effort in several weeks of fighting is increasing pressure on both sides to end their power struggle and form a coalition government.
An Abbas aide said the Palestinian president is prepared to stay up to three days in Mecca, accompanied by a large delegation. Abbas's advisers could continue negotiations after he leaves.
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, also said he expects talks to go on for several days.
"There are big obstacles to overcome in this dialogue. It will not be a minute or an hour,'' he said.
Control over the security forces and the wording of a new government program are the main sticking points. Abbas wants a Hamas commitment in writing to agreements reached by the PLO, including peace deals with Israel.
An especially bloody round of fighting _ 26 killed and more than 230 wounded since Thursday _ has deepened resentment on both sides. Stepping up provocations, gunmen have attacked their rivals' strongholds, such as the Hamas-dominated Islamic university and Abbas's presidential compound.
Gunfire shook one beachside neighbourhood for more than a half-hour after nightfall, as Hamas gunmen fought a local clan allied with Abbas's security forces.
Hamas forces attacked the national security headquarters in Gaza City, killing one officer. They also targeted a base of the Abbas-allied Preventive Security Service in northern Gaza for the second time in two days, ransacking the building and burning tires. Hamas also fired mortars at a Presidential Guard training base and at Abbas's nearby compound.
Hamas forces have attacked more than a dozen installations of forces loyal to Abbas over the last three days.
Earlier Saturday, Hamas threatened on its Al Aqsa radio station to attack several high-rise buildings, unless residents force Abbas-allied snipers from rooftop positions. A few people left but most decided to stay put, saying they had nowhere to go.
In Saturday's fighting, 13 people were wounded, hospital officials said. Gunmen attacked the Hamas-run Agriculture and Interior ministries. Fatah said Hamas kidnapped 40 of its security forces at roadblocks.
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Saturday he held Abbas responsible for the continued fighting and demanded he rein in his security forces. Hamas's top security chief, Interior Minister Said Siyam, said a new ceasefire had been reached and both sides agreed to pull their forces off the streets. A similar agreement reached a day before quickly unravelled and more gunfire was heard after Siyam's announcement.
Among the 26 killed since Thursday, four were children. Of the more than 230 wounded, 41 were in critical condition, including 15 in intensive care, hospital officials said.
Drivers in Gaza City sought alternative routes around the fighting, afraid to be caught in the crossfire. Gunmen waved along a group of children who walked single file along a wall, hoping that would offer them shelter.
Fighting Thursday had knocked out electricity to much of western Gaza City, the hardest-hit area and a spokesman for the electric company said Saturday repair crews had trouble reaching some damaged lines. The technicians have repeatedly come under fire, said the spokesman, Jammy Derdesawi, urging fighters in a radio appeal not to target the power supply.
