GAZA, May 9 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 Palestinians were injured early on Tuesday in fresh clashes between militants of the Islamic Hamas and Fatah movements in the Gaza Strip, medics and witnesses reported.

Palestinians carry the body of a Hamas militant during his funeral at Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza strip May 8. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

    Goma'a al-Saqqa, chief of emergency at Shiffa Hospital in Gaza told reporters that eight of the wounded are schoolchildren who sustained moderate injuries.

    Tuesday's gun battles between Hamas and Fatah militants came after their Monday's bloody clashes in Gaza, which killed three militants including two from Fatah and one from Hamas.

    The fresh clashes erupted in the Tufah neighborhood in northeastern Gaza closed to senior Fatah leader Samir al-Masharawi's home, said witnesses.

    Palestinian Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haneya called on the fighting groups to calm down and restrain themselves and instructed his interior minister to form an inquiry panel to investigate the "sorrow incidents."

    The highest following-up committee of 13 different national and Islamic factions issued a statement overnight, calling on both movements to keep self-restraint and dialogue.

    Relations between Fatah and Hamas have been bitter after Hamas defeated Fatah in a January election, ending Fatah's long dominance in the Palestinian territories. Enditem