GAZA, Oct 20: Unidentified gunmen opened fire on security vehicles escorting Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s convoy through Gaza on Friday, but the Hamas leader was unhurt, officials from the Islamist movement said.

Officials in Mr Haniyeh’s office said the attack did not appear to be an assassination attempt, but it comes at a time of growing tensions between rival Palestinian factions that have stirred fears of civil war.

“The prime minister is alright and he is out of the area which witnessed the gunfire. His car was not attacked,” one official in Mr Haniyeh’s office said.

Officials said gunfire hit vehicles of a Hamas-led police force that was behind cars carrying Mr Haniyeh, who had just finished a speech at a mosque, where he said he would reject any moves by President Mahmud Abbas to oust his government.

It was unclear who was behind the attack and Hamas did not blame any faction. Hamas security officials returned fire and one of their vehicles was set alight.

Nineteen people have been killed this month in violence between Hamas and Mr Abbas’s Fatah faction. Mr Abbas has hinted he might fire the Hamas government after efforts to form a unity cabinet foundered over the Islamist movement’s refusal to soften its stance toward Israel.

Mr Haniyeh said it would be pointless for Mr Abbas to do so, suggesting any emergency administration the president appointed would not get the ultimate approval of parliament, where Hamas has an absolute majority.

He also said Hamas would reject other measures such as calling early elections.

“All you have here are options that have no aim but to remove Hamas from government. The wheel of history will not go backward,” Mr Haniyeh told worshippers at the mosque.

“All these options will not achieve stability and calm and will not represent a way out of the crisis.” Mr Haniyeh did not threaten explicit action to oppose Mr Abbas, such as calling Hamas supporters out onto the streets.

IMPASSE: Mr Abbas, a moderate who seeks a negotiated peace with Israel, said this week he had to make a decision soon on the government’s fate. Hamas seeks to destroy the Jewish state.