Stephen Farrell, The Times Middle East correspondent, is in Gaza on a day of high tension and violence after an alleged assassination attempt against the Palestinian Prime Minister last night:

"I am just driving through Gaza City and every street corner is packed with masked men wearing the colours of Hamas holding Kalashnikovs. I have never seen Hamas out in numbers like this. it's certainly very tense.

"I wasn't at the Rafah border crossing last night but I'm sure it was complete chaos, Palestinian militias are incredibly indisciplined. But on the eve of Hamas's anniversary rally today, it has done them no harm to portray their latest leader as a near martyr, who almost followed in the footsteps of his two predecessors, Abdul Aziz and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who were both killed in office.

"As for the accusation against Mohamed Dahlan [Fatah's security chief], it's not much of a surprise. Dahlan is a powerful figure in Gaza and as a prominent member of Mahmoud Abbas's security team. He has a history of enmity with Hamas and in that sense, is often the first name mentioned by Hamas in situations like this. He is the man they blame for everything, a kind of Mr Big.

"But the truth is that there are so many overlapping Palestinian factions and militias, all with their own competing warlords and shifting loyalties, that it's unlikely that anyone really knows anything about what happened at the border terminal last night.

"One thing seems clear: the national unity government certainly looks increasingly doomed. We have no idea what President Abbas is going to say tomorrow [in a keynote speech on the future of the unity government].

"Although violence in the Middle East is sometimes used as a negotiating tactic — a way of forcing the hands of your rival — and both Fatah and Hamas might be indulging in such deadly brinkmanship in the hope of securing a deal, the other interpretation is that Gaza is slipping into the sort of protracted, vicious infighting that no Palestinian wants and no Palestinian leader seems able to prevent."

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