Rival Palestinian factions fight on

A second day of deadly fighting between rival Palestinian forces led to the resignation of a frustrated top security official and left civilians cowering in their houses as masked gunmen roamed the streets.

The warring factions agreed to a truce late yesterday, the second such agreement in as many days, but continued to battle each other throughout the night. One Hamas man was killed in fighting early today, Palestinian security officials said, the ninth person to die since new internal violence erupted in Gaza.