Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters demanded on Friday that Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh head any Palestinian unity government despite a deal for him to step aside as a means of restoring Western aid.
The public show of support across Gaza for Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, put pressure on the ruling movement to retain him as their candidate to lead a possible new cabinet.
Ismail Haniyeh
Haniyeh vows to never recognize Israel / Associated Press
Speaking before thousands of worshippers at Tehran University, Palestinian prime minister vows his Hamas-led government will continue to fight for liberation of Jerusalem. 'We will never recognize usurper Zionist government,' he says
That would further complicate unity government talks that moderate President Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah faction has said are at a dead end.
"We want you (Haniyeh) to be the prime minister. We will not abandon your leadership of the cabinet," Ismail Rudwan, a Hamas spokesman, told one rally of thousands of people.
"We demand the leadership of Hamas retain ... Ismail Haniyeh as head of the government and head any coming government."
A similar call was made at other rallies that followed Friday prayers. Haniyeh is currently visiting Iran.
Hamas and Fatah had agreed last month Haniyeh would not be prime minister of any unity government. That job was expected to go to a Gaza academic.
Unity talks have since foundered, partly over disputes over control of key ministries. Abbas's aides say the president might decide to sack the government or call fresh elections if no solution is found.
Rudwan al-Akhras, a spokesman for the Fatah parliament bloc, brushed off the demands within Hamas for Haniyeh to stay on.
"It either indicates a rift inside Hamas or a threat they are waving in our faces," he said.
Hamas trounced the once dominant Fatah in January elections, sparking a bitter power struggle with Abbas.
Shootings in Gaza
Palestinians had hoped a unity government could lead to the lifting of Western sanctions that were imposed on the Hamas government over its refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence.
The embargo has prevented the Hamas administration from paying full salaries to government workers, deepening a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories.
Earlier, Israeli troops shot and wounded two Palestinians in Gaza, rescue workers said, a day after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
said he could order renewed assaults to prevent armed factions posing a threat to a shaky truce.
The Israeli army said while warning shots had been fired at a number of Palestinians who had approached the border fence with northern Gaza, it was not aware of anyone being hit.
The rescue workers said the two men were unarmed.
Israeli forces have shot and wounded several Palestinians this week along the fence who they said were acting suspiciously. Gunmen have launched around 20 rockets at Israel since the Nov. 26 ceasefire.
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