Inter-Palestinian fighting has continued in Gaza, as the funerals are held for three people killed in clashes yesterday. Observers say gunbattles between police and militants pose a big challenge for the Islamist militant group Hamas, only days after taking over the running of the Palestinian government. Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh says he has ordered all gunmen and security forces involved in the clashes in the Gaza strip to get off the streets.

He told reporters that “the culture that dominated Palestinian streets in the past is a culture that needs time to change, to turn into a culture of law and order”. Fighting broke out when members of an umbrella group of militants, the Popular Resistance Committees, accused Palestinian security forces close to President Mahmoud Abbas of helping Israel kill a top member of their faction in a car explosion. The Popular Resistance Committees says it has agreed to heed Haniyeh’s appeal and leave the streets.

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