Hamas said 50,000 Palestinian fighters have been trained and organized into units to repel any Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip, Middle East Newsline reported. Hamas officials said the fighters would be supported by hundreds of suicide bombers prepared to blow themselves up in front of Israeli main battle tanks, armored personnel carriers and troops.

"There will be a painful response [to an Israeli invasion]," Hamas military leader Nizar Rayan said on Sept. 28.

Israel appeared to have ruled out an invasion of the Gaza Strip until at least December 2007. Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said his government did not want to ruin the prospects of a Middle East peace conference scheduled for late November in the United States.

Still, Hamas has trained and equipped 50,000 combatants to attack invading Israeli forces, Rayan said. He said 400 Palestinians, many of them women, have been equipped with suicide explosive belts and trained to attack Israeli MBT formations.

"Hamas leaders were surprised when 200 women also volunteered to carry explosives to confront Israeli tanks," Rayan said.

Rayan's figures were much higher than those provided by Israeli intelligence. Israeli military intelligence has assessed that Hamas has organized and equipped a nascent army of 10,000, with another 10,000 irregulars.

On Saturday, Fatah and Hamas fought a pitched battle in the southern Gaza Strip in which at least 10 people were injured. Palestinian sources said Fatah members who protested Hamas's dismissal of a mosque preacher clashed with the Executive Force in Khan Yunis.