Abbas sacked the Hamas-led government after Islamist forces routed Fatah in the Gaza Strip and began imposing a new order in the enclave after days of bloody civil war.

A senior Palestinian official said US Consul-General Jacob Walles informed Abbas that Washington would lift a ban on direct aid to the new emergency government, clearing the way for the European Union and Israel to follow suit.

Gaza and the West Bank are only about 30 miles apart, with Israel in between, but they now appear poised to function as two separate territories . . . a Fatah-controlled West Bank and a Hamas-controlled Gaza.

"Gaza, unfortunately at this stage, is out of the control of the Palestinian Authority, " Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said.

Hamas said it did not intend to set up a Gaza state.

Western powers imposed an aid embargo after Hamas came to power in March 2006 because it failed to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace deals.

Palestinian officials said hundreds of Fatah supporters were allowed by Israel and Egypt to exit Gaza and then travel to the occupied West Bank.

About 50 Fatah gunmen and 200 other demonstrators stormed a Palestinian parliament building in Ramallah in the West Bank to protest against Hamas's bloody takeover of Gaza. No injuries were reported.

The militants grabbed the deputy speaker, who is aligned with Hamas, and dragged him from the building, witnesses said. He was not hurt.

In the West Bank city of Hebron, alAqsa Martyrs' Brigades militants, an offshoot of Fatah, stormed government offices and set up checkpoints to search for Hamas members.

Many Fatah supporters who live in Gaza fear reprisals from Hamas militants. In one refugee camp near the Gaza coast, Fatah loyalists lamented Hamas's takeover.

"We were destroyed. . . I feel lost, " said Umm Rami, whose husband is a colonel in the Fatah-dominated National Security Forces.

Arab governments said they would support Abbas and called for a return to the situation before the Islamist movement's bloody takeover of the coastal strip.

Ismail Haniyeh, who became prime minister after Hamas won the 2006 parliamentary election, has refused to accept his dismissal.

In an interview with a French newspaper, he ruled out setting up a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip separate from the West Bank. "Separation is not on the agenda and never will be, " Haniyeh said.

Abbas has tipped Salam Fayyad, a Western-backed independent lawmaker, to serve as prime minister of the emergency government in what Hamas said amounted to a coup.

The government would be sworn in late last night or today, and will comprise 11 lawmakers, Abbas's aides said.

Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi said Fayyad's cabinet faced daunting challenges, chief among them being "to ensure the rule of law and to prevent the spread of lawlessness from Gaza to the West Bank."

The security challenge was highlighted in orders issued by Palestinian police chief Kamal el-Sheikh, who is based in the West Bank, to his men in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

He ordered the police, who have long been dominated by Fatah, neither to report to work nor to follow Hamas's orders.

Under Palestinian law, Abbas can declare a state of emergency for up to 30 days. The state of emergency could be extended for another 30 days, but only after winning the approval of two-thirds of parliament.

Hamas has a majority in the parliament although Israel's arrests of nearly half of Hamas's deputies put that majority in doubt and also made it hard to achieve a quorum. That could enable Abbas to keep the state of emergency in place longer.

Hopes rise for release of BBC reporter

HOPES were rising last night that the release of the kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston was imminent.

The Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas, said it was taking "practical steps" to secure his release. It said it had sent a warning to Johnston's kidnappers hours after the movement claimed victory in a bloody power struggle in Gaza.

A spokesman said Johnston, a hostage for three months, was the Palestinians' guest and should be made welcome.

The reporter was abducted in March by a group calling itself The Army of Islam.

Palestinian militants purportedly belonging to the group posted a video on the internet on 1 June showing the first pictures of the reporter, in which he said he was being well treated.

The 45-year-old was the only Western reporter permanently based in Gaza and his abduction has triggered appeals for his release from lawmakers and rights groups around the world.

More than 160,000 people have signed an online petition calling for his release.

Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida said his organisation would no longer allow the journalist to be held captive and that it was in contact with Johnston's abductors.

"We have sent a message to his kidnappers to release him immediately. We warned against not setting him free. This is all I can say now, " Obayda told a news conference.

He said the group "will not allow anyone to attack journalists or foreigners, because they are helping our people".