GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Gunbattles broke out across the Gaza Strip when heavily armed Hamas militiamen tried to break up anti-government demonstrations yesterday, killing seven persons and injuring dozens in the worst internal Palestinian violence since Hamas took power.

Militants from the opposition Fatah group retaliated by torching the Palestinian Cabinet building in the West Bank. The violence comes amid growing frustration over the parties' failure to form a national-unity government that could end crippling economic sanctions.

The fighting continued throughout the day and sent schoolchildren and other civilians in downtown Gaza City fleeing for cover...

Eleven Palestinians were killed and more than 150 were wounded in fierce clashes that erupted between supporters of Hamas and Fatah over the past 48 hours in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

The violence, the worst of its kind since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority more than a decade ago, followed allegations by Hamas leaders that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party were planning a coup against the Hamas-led government.

Most of the casualties were reported in the Gaza Strip. One person was killed and two were wounded in a battle between Fatah and Hamas Monday night in Rafah, a day after nine people were killed and dozens were injured during heavy fighting between the two parties on Sunday.

On Monday, the violence spilled over to the West Bank, where a Palestinian was shot to death in Jericho and six others were wounded by gunfire in Nablus. In addition, several PA institutions and Hamas-run organizations were set on fire, including the offices of the PA Prime Minister in Ramallah...

On Friday, Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters held a peaceful rally in Gaza to denounce the state of Israel and declare that they would never recognize its right to exist.

"We ask God to punish the so-called Israel and the allies of Israel and to punish those who recognize Israel and those who called on us to recognize Israel," Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri told the crowd that thronged the Jabalya refugee camp.

"We vow to God that we will never recognise Israel even if we would be all killed," Masri told the cheering audience of men, women and children, many of whom were wearing green Hamas baseball caps and held aloft Hamas banners.

Masri, a popular young lawmaker, also aimed criticism at Fatah, a rival movement headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, saying it was trying to pressure Hamas, which now runs the Palestinian government, into recognizing Israel.

"Those people are demanding of us openly to recognize the occupation and that will never happen," Masri said...

..."The protest aims to stress our rejection to recognize the legitimacy of the occupation," Masri said, referring to what Hamas views as Israel's occupation of all of what is calls historic Palestine....