GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas and Fatah gunmen battled each other across the Gaza Strip early Monday, attacking security compounds, knocking out an electrical transformer and kidnapping several local commanders in some of the most extensive factional fighting in recent weeks.
Four people were killed and large parts of Gaza City were plunged into darkness.
Saudi King Abdullah called the factional fighting a "shame" that has undermined the Palestinian cause. He urged both sides to join talks mediated by his country, Saudi Arabia's official news agency reported Sunday.
"I urge them to hold an emergency meeting in Mecca to discuss the contentious matters without any intervention from outside," Abdullah said.
"Our hearts bleed for what is happening in the land of our Palestinian brothers," he said. "This great atrocity with all its unjustified and weak reasons has stained the Palestinian's honorable national struggle."
Both sides welcomed the Saudi king's offer but did not say when talks might be held. Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led government, said the Islamic group was in talks with Egyptian mediators.
Information Minister Youssef Rizka of Hamas warned that the two sides are close to civil war.
The fighting, which has claimed more than 60 lives since December, erupted in Gaza after the collapse of coalition talks between Hamas, which controls parliament and the government, and moderate President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Fatah. Abbas has threatened to call early elections, a step Hamas has denounced as a coup attempt.
The violence in Gaza often appears random, but some patterns are emerging, particularly in the latest round, which began Thursday and has so far left 30 dead.
Hamas has repeatedly targeted police compounds in recent days in an apparent effort to seize control of the Abbas-allied security forces. Hamas gunmen also have kidnapped several senior security commanders loyal to Abbas, but have released them.
Fatah gunmen, in turn, were drawing out Hamas fighters across the Gaza Strip, in what appeared to be a battle of attrition. From Sunday afternoon to daybreak Monday, gun battles raged in the southern town of Khan Younis, in Gaza City and in the north of the coastal strip.
Some of the most intense fighting took place outside the Gaza City headquarters of the Preventive Security Service, which a decade ago led a crackdown on Hamas and is fiercely loyal to Abbas. Hamas gunmen fired dozens of mortar shells at the compound, drawing return fire through the night.
The compound is located in a heavily populated area, surrounded by apartment high-rises, and frightened residents tried to stay away from their windows to avoid getting hit by stray bullets.
They also had to do without electricity - the western side of Gaza City was plunged into darkness after gunmen knocked out the local transformer.
Elsewhere in Gaza City, Hamas gunmen kidnapped the teenage son and nephew of Col. Khamis al-Ajous, head of Preventive Security, on Sunday. The kidnappers threatened to kill the two boys within three hours unless Hamas fighters seized by Fatah-allied security forces were released. By Monday morning, the boys had still not been released.
In the southern town of Khan Younis, fighting erupted after a local security chief was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen Sunday. In retaliation, Fatah fighters seized several local Hamas leaders. Three people were killed in the fighting Sunday, and shooting continued in the town until early Monday.
Two Hamas gunmen were killed overnight, according to hospital officials. A Fatah security man was killed by gunmen in Gaza City, while another Fatah officer died of wounds sustained in a shooting on Sunday, medical officials said.
Hamas and Fatah also set up more roadblocks around homes and offices of their leaders, and near security compounds. In Gaza City, masked Fatah loyalists armed with machine guns and grenades took up positions outside the national security headquarters, shining flashlights at approaching cars.
Hamas gunmen deployed outside the home of Interior Minister Said Siyam, the top commander of Hamas forces. Fatah alleged Hamas was planting roadside bombs near the house to keep away Abbas loyalists.
After several weeks of clashes, no clear winner is emerging from the fighting, a sign that neither is strong enough to knock the other out. The bitter rivals have been buying, smuggling and building weapons for months trying to gain an edge, but they have held back from all-out battle and find themselves in a stalemate.
Both sides began preparing for the possibility of a big battle after Israel left the Gaza Strip in September 2005 and the arms race intensified after Hamas won legislative elections a year ago.
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