LONDON, JUNE 14, 2007 (WAFA) - Amnesty International said the political violence in the Gaza Strip is escalating, reaching unprecedented levels in recent days, and is putting the civilian population more and more at risk.

It said in a press release, Amnesty said 130 Palestinians have been killed and several hundreds injured in the past month alone in clashes between the security forces and their proxy militias loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party or to Prime Minister Isma'il Haniyeh's Hamas party.

Most of the casualties have been gunmen, but scores of unarmed civilian bystanders, including several children, have been killed or injured by Fatah and Hamas gunmen, who have been firing at each other in the streets and from the rooftops of buildings in residential areas of Gaza City and elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.

Gunmen from both sides have shown utter disregard for fundamental human rights principles. On 13 June unidentified gunmen fired on unarmed demonstrators, who were calling for an end to the armed clashes, in Gaza City and Khan Younes, in the south of the Gaza Strip, injuring several protesters. Also on the same day two Palestinian employees of the United Nation Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA), the main relief agency in the Gaza Strip were killed and two others were injured in the crossfire of Fatah-Hamas clashes.

Armed groups from both sides have carried out execution-style unlawful killings of captured rivals, and have abducted scores of members of rival groups and held them hostage, to be exchanged for friends and relatives held by their rivals.

Educational institutions have also been damaged as a result of reckless gun battles and indiscriminate attacks, and the escalating violence has prevented many high school students from taking their final exams. All aspects of life in the Gaza Strip have been virtually paralyzed, with terrified residents trapped in their homes but unable to feel safe even there.

In a separate incident, gunmen from the armed wings of Fatah and Islamic Jihad used a "TV" sign to disguise an armoured vehicle which they used to carry out an attack on an Israeli army post on the dividing line between the Gaza Strip and Israel on 10 June. Such actions increase the risk that Israeli forces may attack journalists operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, mistaking them for gunmen in disguise.

(19:55P) (16:55GMT)