Gaza - The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas should rule in the West Bank in addition to the Gaza Strip which it currently controls, a senior Hamas leader said Saturday.

"Hamas movement must rule in Gaza and the occupied West Bank according to the results of the elections," said Mahmoud Zahar, former Hamas foreign minister in Gaza.

His remarks were made in response to Western support for the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces currently control the West Bank.

Headquartered in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Fatah forces have been cracking down on the Islamic movement's supporters there, Hamas says.

Gaza - Unknown militants stormed a Gaza Strip beach resort early Wednesday and burned it down, after handcuffing three security guards, witnesses and security sources said.

The militants left the Ebad al-Rahman resort after confiscating three computers, the sources added.

The resort, which opened this summer, is located in the north-west of the salient, not far from the main headquarter of Hamas' internal security force.

Attacks against places of entertainment have increased in the Strip since June last year when militants from Hamas routed forces loyal to secular President Mahmoud Abbas and seized security control of the salient.

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.

Gaza - A Hamas security force member was killed early on Saturday in clashes with a clan in eastern Gaza city, witnesses and medical sources said, adding the exchange of fire left eight casualties among the two sides.

Four policemen were wounded and four from "the trouble makers in Helles family in al-Sheja'eya neighborhood in eastern Gaza city," said Islam Shahwan, a spokesman for Hamas police.

Shahwan added that the attack on the pro-Fatah clan was part of a police campaign to chase down suspects who may have involved in July 25 beachside blast that killed a girl and five Hamas members.

Gaza  - Four Palestinians were killed and 14 wounded on Friday when a tunnel under the border between the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah and Egypt collapsed, medics and witnesses said.

Witnesses said that several Palestinians were digging a tunnel east of Rafah town under the borders between Gaza Strip and Israel, adding that the tunnel has suddenly collapsed while around 20 people were into it.

Ramallah/Gaza - The Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip continued their back-and-forth arrests of top party leaders Friday, capping a week of detentions sparked by a car explosion in the Gaza Strip that killed five Hamas militants and a girl.

Hamas blamed Fatah for the blast; Fatah said the explosion was due to internal conflicts within the Islamist organization.

Although President Mahmoud Abbas told his security forces Thursday night to free all Hamas supporters taken in the West Bank over the past week, sources close to the detained activists told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Friday morning that they were unaware of anyone being released.