Tel Aviv - Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip have released a cameraman working for the German television broadcaster ARD, four nights after they detained him, the network said Thursday.

Sawaf Abu Saif was in a "bad state," ARD Israel bureau chief Richard Haim Schneider said, adding that more details would be provided on his overnight release later in the day.

Abu Saif was arrested Saturday in a Hamas crackdown on its rivals, including the moderate Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas.

On Wednesday, ARD closed its Gaza office to protest Abu Saif's detention.

Gaza City - The de-facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip has banned three major West Bank-based Palestinian dailies in the salient, a statement by the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said Monday.

The Palestinian Journalists Union in the West Bank said Hamas police in Gaza prevented the three newspapers, al-Quds, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida, from being distributed after they arrived in the enclave.

The Interior Ministry said it blocked their distribution in the Gaza Strip because of what it described as their unfair coverage of a bombing attack on a Hamas car on Friday.

Gaza - Hamas forces launched a crackdown on supporters and charities linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip early Saturday after a mysterious blast that killed a number of Hamas people, Fatah sources said.

Among those detained by Hamas was a colonel working in the pro- Abbas intelligence service and a cameraman working for the German ARD television channel, the sources said.

A bomb planted under the car of a Hamas member went off late Friday, killing a girl and five members of Hamas' armed wing who were picnicking at the beach in the west of Gaza city.

The car was parked behind a tent used by a group of Hamas people. Dozens more people were reported wounded.

Gaza  - At least three people were killed and more than a dozen injured when a car exploded Friday night on the coastal road in Gaza City, according to hospital and official sources.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately known but was believed to be a bomb planted in the car.

A loud explosion was heard on the coastal road, sources said. Ambulances rushed to the scene and started evacuating the dead and wounded.

Gaza City - An explosion in Gaza City early Friday morning killed one person, the Palestinian Maan news agency reported, citing unnamed "security sources."

Gaza City  - The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Friday it would "benefit" from Israel's prisoners exchange with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, suggesting the deal had strengthened its negotiating position regarding an Israeli soldier it is holding captive in Gaza.

"Hamas will benefit from the release (by Israel to Lebanon) of prisoners with blood on their hands and this will help Hamas reach a similar deal," Khalil Hayeh, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, said.