Hamas fighters hunted down key loyalists of the Western-backed Palestinian president in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after seizing most of the final strongholds of his secular Fatah movement in the enclave.
After six days of fighting that have killed over 100 people and ripped apart Palestinians' hopes for a state, President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the Hamas-led government and declared a state of emergency. He held out the prospect of early elections but it was gun law not the constitution that held sway in Gaza.
Hamas militants "executed" a top Fatah "collaborator" and paraded his body through the streets and leaders issued a death list of other Fatah supporters. They dismissed the decrees issued in the Fatah-controlled West Bank and said Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas remained in charge in their enclave.
Jubilant young Hamas gunmen hoisted green Islamist flags over captured Fatah buildings and pounded the remaining Fatah bastion, Abbas's own Gaza compound, with heavy weaponry.
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