A senior Fatah leader on Saturday criticized the newly-sworn in Palestinian government led by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) for failing to contain chaos in Gaza following Friday's riots killed three people and wounded 23 others there.

Samir al-Masharawi said at a news conference in Gaza that the new Hamas-led cabinet failed to contain the current chaos in the Gaza Strip.

He also slammed Hamas for supporting the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) in accusing senior Palestinian security forces of being involved in the killing of a top PRC militant and stirring up the already tense situation.

"Instead of containing the crisis, the Hamas-led cabinet contributed to heating up the clashes and the fact-finding committee should bring those behind the troubles to justice," said al-Masharawi.

Violent clashes erupted between militants and security forces during a funeral procession of Abu Yousef al-Guga, who was killed in a mysterious car explosion in Gaza City on Friday.

The PRC blamed Israel for al-Guga's death and also accused Palestinian security forces of collaborating with the Jewish State in the killing, triggering the riots.

The Hamas-led Palestinian government, sworn in last month, decided at a late Friday meeting to set up a special committee to investigate into the incident, while ordering to remove all the weapons from public display on the streets.

Defeating the long dominant Fatah movement in the January legislative elections, Hamas has single-handedly formed a new government. But the security forces have largely consisted of Fatah members.

In response to al-Masharawi's statements, Hamas spokesman in the parliament Salah el-Bardaweel said, "Such comments are very dangerous" and flatly rejected the Fatah leader's accusations.

"The government has spared no effort in containing the crisis. Such statements are aimed at showing the new cabinet weak and disable," added el-Bardaweel.

Source: Xinhua