The Gaza Strip was on Sunday reeling from one of the worst bouts of internecine fighting in over a year, after a Hamas raid on the stronghold of a powerful Gaza clan left at least nine dead and forced as many as 200 family members to flee into Israel.

The clashes marked a further escalation in the struggle between Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, and the Fatah party of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.