Gaza City, July 29

Deputies of the Islamist movement Hamas which rules Gaza today renewed calls for a "revolt" against the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority over its sweeping arrests of anti-Israeli militants.

The deputies, in an act of defiance, held a meeting in the Parliament building in Gaza City that has not convened officially since 2007 when Hamas expelled PA security forces after a week of deadly clashes.

They called for "an uprising and a revolt against the political arrests" carried out by the PA in the West Bank and for Palestinian factions to adopt "a firm stand against the Authority's crimes against the resistance and its members".

The MPs condemned the PA's security cooperation with Israel under the 1993 Oslo accords as amounting to "high treason" that served "Zionist security" interests.

On July 7, Hamas accused the PA of having arrested "over 200" of its members.