Hamas wins prelim elections

Agencies: Hamas swept to victory in local elections in the West Bank?s largest cities according to preliminary votes released on Friday.

Hamas won in Nablus (with over 70 per cent of the vote) Jenin and Al Bireh, while Fatah and a coalition of independent candidates won a majority in Ramallah, an official was monitoring voting said on condition of anonymity.

Although overall Fatah beat Hamas in smaller towns and villages, Hamas? victory in the cities is a clear indication of the strength of the Islamic militant group?s challenge to the ruling Fatah party less than six weeks before legislative elections are due to take place.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is already facing an internal Fatah struggle.

On Wednesday night, a younger generation of Fatah leaders announced they would run for office against Fatah old timers.

Led by jailed uprising leader, Marwan Barghouthi, the new party called Future, has triggered one of the biggest crises in Fatah history.

Two Palestinians were wounded on Friday morning when Israeli aircraft fired missiles into northern Gaza.

The Israeli military released a statement saying the missiles were targeting access routes used by militants to launch rockets into Israel.