GAZA CITY, June 5: Militants loyal to Hamas stormed a studio of Palestine TV and threatened journalists on Monday just hours before a deadline for the ruling faction to soften its hardline policies was to expire.

Palestine TV comes under the control of moderate Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, who served the governing faction the ultimatum to agree on how to solve a political crisis or face a referendum.

Hamas militants have frequently accused the television of bias towards the now ruling Islamist movement, and the attack in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis was the latest in a string of factionally driven clashes.

“An illegal group of gunmen... destroyed everything, cameras, satellite dishes, computers and furniture,” said Palestine TV director general, Mohammed Dawdi.

Bassam Abdullah, a station cameraman, said that ‘around 100 gunmen’ from Hamas’s Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades military wing and a new paramilitary force formed by the Hamas-led government stormed into the broadcast centre.

“They opened fire at equipment, destroyed cameras, and hit me and the bureau chief Ahmed Saqer”, Mr Abdullah said.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri insisted his movement had ‘nothing to do with the attack’ on the studios, although he added that the television ‘frequently resorts to incitement against Hamas, which raises tensions’.

Mr Dawdi denied the accusations. “This is not true. We are a professional television station catering to all Palestinians,” he said.

Staff rallied outside the television’s main Gaza City office to protest the militants’ action. Some wore gags over their mouths to mark their anger at the strong-arm tactics against journalists.

One technician said that the Hamas militants accused station workers in Khan Yunis of being ‘spies’. The television stopped broadcasting for 30 minutes as a mark of protest.

Sixteen people have been killed in deadly Palestinian violence since early last month.

—AFP