Hamas Seizing Control of Gaza Strip

Smoke rises during factional fighting between gunmen from the rivals Fatah and Hamas in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City Tuesday, June 12, 2007. Nineteen Palestinians have been killed over two days in a new spike in the yearlong Hamas-Fatah power struggle. Some people were shot at close range in street executions, others in shootouts that turned hospitals into battle grounds. Residents huddled indoors, and university exams were canceled. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) (Khalil Hamra - AP)

Hamas gunmen neutralized the main strongholds of the Fatah-linked security forces, ruling the streets and taking control of large parts of Gaza in the process.

Abbas' forces _ desperately trying to cling to their besieged bases in Gaza _ lashed out at the president, saying he left them with no directions and no support in the fight.

Hamas and Fatah have waged a sporadic power struggle since Hamas won parliament elections last year, ending four decades of Fatah dominance of Palestinian affairs. But the battle is now verging on civil war, as Hamas wages a systematic assault on security forces.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he discussed the possible deployment of a multinational force in Gaza with the Security Council on Wednesday after the Israeli and Palestinian leaders raised the idea.

With fighting raging on rooftops and streets in nearly all corners of Gaza, residents huddled in fear in their homes.

Hamas, already in control of much of northern Gaza, seized Khan Younis on Wednesday and began a coordinated assault on the southern town of Rafah, security officials said.

Hamas militants blew up a security building near Rafah after a long gunbattle, said Col. Nasser Khaldi, a senior police official.

"What can I say? This is a fall, a collapse," he said.

Fayez Abu Taha, 45, a businessman in Rafah, said he was trapped in his apartment building with his family after Hamas fighters took over a nearby rooftop and Fatah responded by taking over the roof of his building.

"I don't know what they are battling for now," he said. "I can see the bullets flying from my windows. Coming and going."

The rout of the security forces was so bad that 40 Palestinian security officers broke through the border fence in Rafah and fled into Egypt seeking safety, Egyptian police said.

In the afternoon, Hamas forces attacked the three main compounds of the Fatah-allied forces in Gaza City _ the headquarters of the Preventive Security, the Intelligence Service and the National Forces _ in what could usher in the final phase of the battle.