By Xinhua
Gaza : Fierce infighting between rival Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas continued for the third consecutive day Wednesday, leaving nine more people dead.
Sources said clashes flared up in northern Gaza city, mainly around the house of Fatah movement's spokesman Maher Miqdad, in the beach refugee camp and around Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' compound in western Gaza.
They said that dozens of Hamas militants seized Miqdad's home and set fire to it after they confiscated computers, documents and furniture.
Six Palestinians were killed, including a 16-year-old boy at the building. Miqdad was not in the building when angry Hamas militants stormed it early Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Joma'a al-Saqqa, chief of emergency at Shiffa Hospital in Gaza, said the hospital had received the bodies of nine Palestinians since Wednesday morning, six of whom were killed in north of Gaza city.
The other three included two Hamas militants and one security officer, all of whom were killed in clashes in Gaza city, according to al-Saqqa.
Since the infighting broke out on Sunday, al-Saqqa said that 55 Palestinians were killed and more than 100 were injured. He added that four were killed Sunday, 17 killed Monday, 25 Tuesday, and nine on Wednesday.
In another development, Major General Borhan Hammad, head of the Egyptian security delegation, which has been mediating between Hamas and Fatah, called on all Palestinians to demonstrate in Gaza Wednesday to urge the rival groups to end fighting.
The latest Fatah-Hamas fighting since Sunday has threatened the Palestinian unity government, which took office on March 17, and pushed the Palestinian territories to the edge of civil war.
Fatah earlier declared to suspend its participation in the coalition government with Hamas after a central committee meeting Tuesday.
The meeting, which lasted for three hours, decided to suspend the participation of its ministers in the unity government until the fighting ends.