Over 150 members of the pro-Fatah movement Helles clan fled the Gaza Strip on Saturday and entered Israel after a day of clashes with the ruling Hamas faction, localdaily Ha'aretz reported on its website.

Israeli officials said that in a humanitarian move, the Helles clan members were allowed through the Erez and Nahal Oz border crossings between Gaza and Israel, some of them wounded, and some carrying guns, while Hamas gunmen followed and fired at them.

Clan leader and senior Fatah official Ahmed Helles, who had been wounded in the violence, was among those who had reached Israel, said the report.

Earlier Saturday, Hamas security forces and members of the Helles clan exchanged mortar shell and machine gun fire in the most violent round yet of Hamas' weeklong crackdown on political rival Fatah.

Palestinian medical sources in Gaza city said that four Palestinians, including three Hamas policemen and a little boy, were killed and around 80 others injured in the clash.

Hamas claims that senior Helles clan member Abu Ramzi Helles was behind last week's explosion near a beach outside Gaza City.

On July 25, five Hamas militants and a little girl were killed in a bombing attack on a car near Gaza city beach. Hamas accused rival Fatah of being behind the attack and cracked down on the movement and its charities.

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2008)