Gaza governor's office seized by gunmen

The territory has been gripped by unprecedented turmoil amid demands for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to enact anti-corru-ption reforms and a tussle for control ahead of an Israeli plan to quit the occupied Gaza Strip.

Gunmen took over the governor's office in Khan Younis early on Sunday to demand compensation from Arafat's Palestinian Authority for destruction caused by Israeli raids.

They left about an hour later after authorities promised to set up a mechanism to compensate Pale-stinian homeless.

The gunmen said they were not from any of the militant groups waging a 4-year-old uprising.

But rather they came from a neighborhood where Israeli troops dynamited two apartment blocks last week. The army raid followed twin Palestinian bus bombings, which killed 16 people inside Israel last week.

"We need homes for the homeless," Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the gunmen told Reuters, adding that 160 families had been made homeless by the latest Israeli demolition and previous raids.

"We are asking President Arafat to stand beside our fair demands," he said, adding that talks had begun with local officials to try to end the standoff.

Unrest which began in the Gaza Strip late in July and also touched the West Bank has posed the biggest internal challenge to Arafat's leadership since he returned from exile a decade ago as Palestinians gained a measure of self-rule.

AFP adds: The Islamist movement Hamas gave its backing yesterday for plans to hold elections next year, urging Palestinians to register for the polls which it is expected to contest for the first time.

"Hamas is asking all the Palesti-nian people to register to vote in the elections," the organisation said in a statement.

"We in Hamas regard elections as a way to lay the foundations for a community built on the pillars of freedom, stability and justice," it added.

Palestinian officials announced on Saturday that they planned to hold simultaneous presidential, parliamentary and municipal polls in spring 2005.