Read on-the-spot reports from Gaza and the West Bank

Hamas fighters issued an ultimatum to a number of the Gaza Strip's powerful clans to hand over their weapons and submit to interrogation today, as the Islamists attempted to assert their complete authority on the war-torn area after their military takeover.

As the last of the secular Fatah's defeated fighters fled to Egypt, the Islamists today demanded that the multitude of different factions, clans and groups, which oppose it hand over weapons and ammunition.

Those which did not agree to do so were believed to have been subjected to house visits by black-clad Hamas militia. Some were asked to hand over wanted fighters to the Islamists.

Blockade drains life from Gaza

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

Multimedia

• 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

• On-the-spot in Gaza and the West Bank

• Fears grow for BBC journalist in Hamas-ruled Gaza

• Analysis: the future is bleak for Abbas

Multimedia

• Hamas seizes power in Gaza

The Times today heard shots ring out at the home of the Bakr family, an influential clan who live by an area called Beach Camp in Gaza City, and who it was thought Hamas had wanted to interrogate.

As Hamas tightened its grip on power in Gaza, there was widespread international condemnation for the Islamists' takeover, with Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett labelling it a "coup d'etat". Germany, which holds the rotating Presidency of the European Union (EU), condemned the seizure in the "strongest terms". Neighbouring Egypt, meanwhile, pulled its envoys out of Gaza in protest.

In a telephone call to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, representatives of the quartet of Middle East peace intermediaries - Russia, the EU, the United States and United Nations - backed the Fatah leader, who dissolved his party's unity Government with Hamas yesterday.

Throughout Gaza today, however, gunmen - many of whom were still clad in black and wearing masks - were participating in spontaneous celebrations, with parades of men seen firing weapons into the air and chanting.

At the house of the Fatah security enforcer, Muhammad Dahlan, close to the Presidential compound in Gaza City, looting was reported to have been so extensive that the shower, toilet and basin in the bathroom and light-fittings had been stolen. Mr Dahlan is one the most hated Fatah figures among Hamas ranks, accused of killing scores of Islamist fighters and activists in recent years.

When asked if he wanted Mr Dahlan - now in the West Bank - to be killed, one 37-year-old pharmacist at the scene told The Times: "What we want is to drag him through the streets behind a donkey until he dies of his injuries." He added that this was not official Hamas policy.

Despite the celebrations and shows of military strength, there were signs that Hamas was also attempting to cool tensions with Fatah.

In a statement this morning, the Islamist's military wing Izzedine al-Qassam said it had "extended an amnesty" to fighters from the secular group who it had captured yesterday, which included Fatah's head of national security, presidential commander and national security spokesman.

As well as the releases, Hamas also cancelled provocative plans to hold Friday prayers in the former compound of President Mahmoud Abbas, although this was likely to be due to the fear of unexploded bombs, rather than as a goodwill gesture to Fatah.

In the West Bank today, Mr Abbas appointed the political independent and former World Bank executive Salam Fayyad as Prime Minister of the emergency Palestinian Government after the sacking of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniya yesterday. However, the administration is becoming increasingly irrelevant, with the Gaza Strip completely controlled by the Hamas military, which denounced his appointment of Mr Fayyad as "a coup against legitimacy." Mr Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, has declared his sacking by Mr Abbas to be invalid and claimed he was still Prime Minister.

World leaders were today thought to be discussing how to prevent Gaza - which has 1.5 million residents and is completely cut off from the outside world - sliding towards a humanitarian catastrophe. Yesterday, the EU suspended all 16 of its relief projects operating in Gaza, while Israel had closed its borders during the last week of gunbattles, which have killed 113 people.

Hamas had already faced international isolation and an aid freeze because of its continuing refusal to recognise Israel's right to exist, renounce terrorism, and recognise previous peace agreements signed between the Jewish State and Fatah.

Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said the Prime Minister wanted to find ways to provide humanitarian aid to the area, but added that there was "no one to deliver to on the Palestinian side".

German officials said steps urgently needed to be taken to restore international aid. Martin Jaegar, a German foreign ministry spokesman, said: "We are extremely concerned about the humanitarian consequences and call on all sides to make the supply of aid to the Palestinian population in Gaza possible."

Times Recommends

• Plan for 9/11 trial in New York divides the city
• Beijing gets the jitters as Obama flies in
• Potshot Palin settles scores