Gaza - The death toll rose to nine in bloody clashes between Fatah and Hamas supporters by early Sunday, as an estimated 120 to 150 Fatah supporters fled Gaza across Israel to the West Bank.

The gunbattles in eastern Gaza City's al-Sheja'eya neighbourhood erupted after Hamas security forces attempted to arrest members of the Fatah-allied Helles clan.

The current Fatah-Hamas tensions are the worst since Hamas' Gaza take-over one year ago. Many of the dead were Hamas supporters. An estimated 80 persons were injured, Palestinian medical sources said.

The Minister of Interior in the deposed Hamas-led government in Gaza, Said Siam, told a news conference that the Helles clan members violated the law and his police detained several suspects.

Palestinian witnesses and Israeli media reported that 120 to 150 members of the Helles clan fled their homes and went to the border between eastern Gaza City and Israel after Hamas security forces took control of Sheja'eya neighborhood, where Helles clans live.

Palestinian sources said that senior Fatah leader Ahmed Helles, better known as Abu Maher, and dozens of his clan's members were among those who escaped.

Their flight took them to the West Bank under Fatah control, and was aided by the Israeli army, Israeli media reported Saturday evening.

In Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement threatened to take action against Hamas movement supporters in the West Bank if the latter does not stop its military campaign against Fatah members in the Gaza Strip started early Saturday.

Fatah spokesman in the West Bank Fahmi Za'arir demanded that Hamas end its military campaign against Fatah in Gaza and release all the prisoners, and that the Hamas leadership in the West Bank openly declare its opposition to Hamas actions in Gaza.

Fatah gunmen earlier detained a Hamas leader in the West Bank city of Nablus, Muhammad Ghazal, for two hours, threatening to kill him if Hamas would not release Fatah leaders in Gaza. However, Ghazal, who was earlier held by Palestinian Authority security forces for two days, was released unharmed at the intervention of the Palestinian Authority.

Saturday's clashes appeared to have been triggered when Hamas security forces and Hamas armed wing al-Qassam Brigades stormed Sheja'eya neighborhood to search for suspects involved in a July 25 attack on a Hamas car in Gaza that killed six people. (dpa)