Around 15,000 people have taken part in a demonstration organised by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah group calling for an end to clashes between armed Palestinian groups.
The rally in Gaza City came after more than a week of tensions following the killing of a Palestinian police chief by renegade members of Hamas, which said the slaying was a family dispute and not linked to the radical Islamic group.
Dozens of Fatah gunmen joined today's solidarity rally, which was addressed by the Fatah secretary general for the Gaza Strip, Mr Ahmed Helis.
"We will continue our resistance to defend ourselves against the Zionist Israeli aggression and occupation," Mr Helis told the crowd.
Calling Mr Arafat by his nom de guerre, he announced, "Abu Ammar, all the Palestinian people are with you to build a Palestinian state. Our message to the Zionist Israelis is that there will be no security for them if our people suffer from aggression, occupation and assassination," he said.
The killing of Brigadier General Rajeh Abu Lehya last week by 20 men disguised in police uniforms and headed by a Hamas member avenging the death of his brother in clashes with riot police last year shook the Gaza Strip.
Six people were killed in subsequent clashes between Palestinian security services - mostly drawn from the ranks of Fatah - and Hamas loyalists trying to stop the arrest of one of their own.
Hamas leaders denied the movement had any official connection with the gangland-style hit, which the killer's family said was a blood vendetta with the police chief, whose men were accused by relatives of shooting dead two demonstrators in anti-US riots last October.
AFP