Palestinian men carry a man wounded during clashes between Hamas and Fatah militants in Gaza yesterday. - Reuters

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP):

A beleaguered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a state of emergency and disbanded the Hamas-led unity government after the Islamic militant group vanquished its Fatah rivals and effectively took control of the Gaza Strip yesterday.

Fearful thatHamas' momentum could spread to the West Bank, Fatah went on the offensive there, rounding up three dozen Hamas fighters.

Angry Fatah militants threw office furniture out a third-storey window of the Palestinian parliament building in the West Bank city of Ramallah, then set fire to the office of three Hamas lawmakers.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, a Hamas activist was shot dead by Fatah militants, Hamas said yesterday.

He was the first to be killed in the West Bank after days of violence in the Gaza Strip, reinforcing fears that the violence might spread there.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent Fatah offshoot, claimed responsibility.

In Gaza, it was a day of major victories for Hamas and its backers in Iran and Syria and of devastating setbacks for the Western-backed Fatah.

In one particularly humiliating scene, masked Hamas fighters marched agents of the once-feared Preventive Security Service out of their headquarters, arms raised in the air, stripped to the waist and ducking at the sound of a gunshot.

Install new government

Abbas, of Fatah, fired the Hamas prime minister and said he would install a new government, replacing the Hamas-Fatah coalition formed just three months ago. Abbas' decrees won't reverse the Hamas takeover of Gaza.

Instead, his moves will enable Fatah to consolidate its control over the West Bank, likely paving the way for two separate Palestinian governments.

Because Fatah has recognised Israel's right to exist and signed on to past peace agreements, the international community's boycott of the Palestinian territories in the wake of Hamas' electoral successes may no longer apply to the West Bank, just to Gaza.

Some two million Palestinians live in the West Bank, while 1.4 million reside in Gaza.