Armed clashes erupt near Palestinian parliament

Heavy exchanges of fire ricocheted in the street outside the Legislative Council building, pitting police and preventative security officers against a new paramilitary force deployed by the Hamas-led government, the sources said.

Hamas supporters used rocket-propelled grenades against the security forces, which are dominated by the former ruling Fatah movement loyal to Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, said a security source on the spot.

A Fatah militant was shot dead in clashes with Hamas gunmen in the southern Gaza town of Abassan earlier Monday in spiralling tension that has illicited pledges by Abbas and Hamas to avoid a descent into civil war.

Earlier Palestinian police thwarted an attack Sunday on a security commander the second ally of President Mahmoud Abbas targeted in two days as the rivalry between his moderate Fatah Party and the Hamas militant group threatened to explode.

Abbas called on both sides to do everything possible to avoid violence and said he would open talks with Hamas later this week to end the dangerous power struggle.

"Civil war is the red line that nobody dares cross, no matter which side they are on," Abbas told reporters at the World Economic Forum in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

Abbas met Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni there the first high-level talks between Israelis and Palestinians since Hamas beat Fatah in January parliamentary elections.

Since the Hamas Cabinet took power in March, tensions have risen as Abbas and the militant group vie for power. Abbas was elected separately last year.

In an effort to consolidate his control over the Fatah-dominated security forces, Abbas installed close ally Rashid Abu Shbak as the commander of the three branches that fall under the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry.