Unidentified gunmen shot dead a judge from the governing Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, a killing sure to stoke internal unrest. Hamas officials and residents said Bassam al-Fara was a judge in a civil court but also a senior member of the faction's armed wing. Four gunmen shot him in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis while Fara was on the way to work, they said. The attack comes amid spiralling tensions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank between Hamas and the rival Fatah faction of moderate President Mahmoud Abbas. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which Hamas called an "assassination".

Hamas has accused Abbas of trying to topple the government, which came to power after beating Fatah in elections in January. Unity talks broke down partly over Hamas's rejection of Western demands to recognise Israel.