Pulling a black ski mask over his head, Daash Qannah, a senior Fatah fighter in Nablus, loaded cans of petrol into the boot of his car and carefully placed three loaded Kalashnikov rifles on the back seat.

His fellow fighters had rounded up more than 90 Hamas loyalists across the West Bank. One was a Hamas preacher, whom they shot several times in the leg. Another was a city councillor from Ramallah.

“The kidnappings are over with, now we will start with the killing,” Mr Qannah declared before driving off, with vague plans of burning Hamas buildings to the ground.

Mr Qannah and his gunmen said that they weren’t acting on anybody’s orders. To them, that was precisely the problem.

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Blockade drains life from Gaza

The movement of goods into Gaza had been intermittent at best since Hamas won Palestinian elections early last year

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• Pictures: Johnston is released

• Video: unarmed protester confronts gunman in Gaza

• Pictures: life in Gaza

BACKGROUND

• Israel continues Gaza blitz as 310 dead

• Q&A: Hamas and Gaza

• 97 days and counting for BBC's man in Gaza

• Now war is with the enemy within

• The little girl trapped by a quirk of war

Related Links

• Hamas to celebrate victory at Friday prayers

In five days of fierce fighting with Hamas, Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader and Palestinian President, has failed to supply his forces in Gaza with any rules of engagement, raising questions about whether his political career can survive. Hamas, by contrast, appeared to be more organised and disciplined than Fatah in nearly every battle.

Mr Qannah was not about to let the scenario repeat itself in the West Bank, a Fatah stronghold. “We cannot wait any longer for Abu Mazen to tell us what to do,” he said, using the nickname of Mr Abbas. “We are acting on our own.”

Mr Abbas – who faces the possible collapse of his authority – is confronting a new challenge from within the ranks of his Fatah movement in the West Bank.

Angrily accusing Mr Abbas of failing to support them, fighters from Fatah’s armed wing vowed yesterday to take vengeance against Hamas into their own hands. Political allies of Mr Abbas questioned the President’s judgment publicly, blaming his political dithering for the quick defeat suffered by Fatah forces in Gaza. Others criticised him for remaining at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah while battles raged in Gaza, which Mr Abbas last visited two weeks ago.

“I am angry with him. He hasn’t given anybody any direct orders in this crisis. Now Gaza is lost,” said Nasser Juma, a Fatah Member of Parliament from Nablus, with close ties to the armed group Al-Aksa Martyrs’ Brigades.

The moderate Mr Abbas ordered his presidential guard to strike back yesterday but the orders came too late, with Fatah fighters unable to rally against the rapid onslaught of Islamist militants in Gaza.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation advised Mr Abbas to declare emergency rule and dissolve the Hamas-led Palestinian unity government.

“All of us are now in bad need for a new leader. We sit with the President but we have a hard time communicating to him the gravity of the situation. He has to take a decision, otherwise we are all finished,” Fouad Kokali, a Member of Parliament representing Fatah, said.

Palestinian pollsters predict that Mr Abbas will struggle to regain public support after suffering such a crushing defeat in Gaza, which could trigger the end of his political career.

“He is losing all support. Whatever is happening around him – whether it is his fault or not – he will ultimately be blamed,” Ghassan Khatib, director of the Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre, said.

In Nablus, Fayes Tirawi, a commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades who claimed responsibility for some of yesterday’s kidnappings, said that his fighters would redeem Fatah’s defeat in Gaza with revenge in the West Bank.

Fatah commanders have told Mr Abbas he should dissolve the government, declare emergency rule, call for early elections and arrest every single Hamas activist in the West Bank.

By last night they had yet to receive a response.

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