Gaza City - Hamas police in the Gaza Strip battled it out with one of the salient's most powerful clans Tuesday, leaving at least 11 people, a baby infant among them, dead, in the worst internecine violence in the salient in more than a month.

Dozens of people were also injured in the fighting, which saw both sides use rocket-propelled grenades and semi-automatic weapons.

The clashes erupted when Hamas police forces raided a neighbourhood in southern Gaza City before dawn, seeking to arrest members of a powerful local Dughmush clan.

Gaza City  - At least 11 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in a fresh outbreak of violent internecine clashes in the Gaza Strip, the worst in more than a month, security officials said.

The clashes erupted when Hamas police forces raided a neighbourhood in southern Gaza City before dawn, seeking to arrest members of a powerful local clan, the Dughmush.

One Hamas policeman and at least four members of the Dughmush family - three gunmen and a baby girl - were among the dead. Dozens were also injured in the clashes, in which both sides used rocket- propelled grenades and semi-automatic guns.

Gaza City - At least 11 Palestinians were killed in another outbreak of violent internecine clashes in the Gaza Strip, the worst in more than a month, security officials said Tuesday.

The clashes took place in southern Gaza City's al-Sabra neighbourhood, between forces from the radical Islamic Hamas movement ruling the strip and a powerful local clan, the Dughmush.

At least one Hamas policeman and four members of the Dughmush family, including an infant, were among the dead, the security officials said.

A statement by the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry said the police forces killed three "wanted criminals" who refused to surrender during an attempt to arrest them.

Gaza - A boat carrying pro-Palestinian peace activists is scheduled to arrive in Gaza later this month, one of the organizers said Thursday.

The boat will arrive in Gaza on September 22, Jamal al-Khodari, head of the Popular Committee to Challenge the [Israeli] Siege, said. The vessel will carry members of the European parliament, doctors and members of the media.

The boat is the third such boat to arrive in Gaza in recent weeks. On August 23, two boats carrying 44 foreign peace activists as well as Palestinians broke the Israeli blockage on Gaza after sailing from Cyprus.

Gaza City - The sister-in-law of former British prime minister Tony Blair accused Israel Wednesday of human rights violations because the country is not allowing her to leave the Gaza Strip via Isr

Gaza - Egypt on Saturday opened its border with the Gaza Strip to allow stranded Palestinians and Egyptians to cross in two directions, Palestinian security sources said.

Five busses left the Gaza Strip through Rafah crossing when its gates were opened Saturday and one bus entered the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the sources added.