The factional fighting in the Palestinian Territories may have died down, but a new political battleground has emerged - the hospitals of the Gaza Strip...

...two weeks ago, things got much worse for Dr Shatat, when more than half of his colleagues decided to go on strike.

"It's very hard to work during this strike," he says. "Of course, it affects the quality of our service, mortality rates have increased."

"Here, on the first day of the strike, a newborn baby died. He was very ill, but there were so few medical workers, that the constant supervision he needed could not be given."

At the end of the ward, 26-year-old Um Givara cradles her baby, waiting for the use of a ventilator.

"We're all worried about this strike because our sick children need doctors and nurses to look after them," she says. "I can tell, things are not like before."...

...The strike is being driven by the pro-Fatah Medical Workers Union.

Its director, Osama Najjar, in Ramallah, says scores of striking doctors in Gaza have been called in for interrogations, and had their private clinics closed down as punishment.

But he is adamant the strike will continue until Hamas backs down.

In fact, he is calling for much more pressure to be applied to Hamas in Gaza. Even asking that Mr Abbas hold on to the aid money he receives to pay for Gaza's electricity.

"It is like we are giving Hamas a furnished apartment in Gaza and paying for it, while Hamas humiliates our people. We should think hard about paying these bills for them, let Hamas be responsible."

These days, people may not be getting killed in the cross-fire of Fatah-Hamas gunfights on the streets of Gaza, as they used to, but the political wrangles are still hurting them...