Five Palestinians, including a policeman, were killed and many were wounded, some seriously, on Saturday as members of two rival clans clashed in a fierce firefight in Gaza, local medics and witnesses said.
Palestinian security forces were having difficulty restoring calm and mediators and bystanders were also wounded as bullets and grenades flew in a neighbourhood of the town of Beit Hanoun in north Gaza.
It was a further example of lawlessness in the Gaza Strip, seen as a testing ground for future Palestinian statehood after Israel withdrew from the coastal territory last September following 38 years of military rule.
The motive for the clash, which began on Friday, was unclear, but medics said that at least five of some 40 wounded were in critical condition as rival family members used assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades in the clash.
Witnesses said that the policeman was killed by a stray bullet, which hit the police station in which he was situated. Many families fled their homes in fear of being hit by stray bullets as gunmen took up positions on rooftops.