This episode of International Dateline examines the latest power struggle in Gaza and how the infighting threatens to rip the Palestinian territories apart. As Sophie McNeill reports, last year Palestinians overwhelmingly voted the militant organisation Hamas into government. It was a result that shocked the former ruling party Fatah, the US, Israel and Europe.

Many Palestinians feel they're now being punished for voting for the wrong team, as they suffer through random power outages, almost daily incursions by the Israeli military, and an Israel-led economic blockade that's reaping devastating results. Palestinians are also seeing ongoing, violent clashes between Hamas and Fatah security forces -- fighting that's stopping the peace process from moving forward.

As McNeill reports, the United States is suspected of fueling the infighting by funding and arming Fatah in the hope that it will overthrow the elected Hamas government. The U.S. denies this. Meanwhile, as the violence perpetrated by both Hamas and Fatah worsens, the plight of their people is being forgotten.

About International Dateline 

SBS Dateline, which began in 1984, is Australia's longest-running international current affairs program. It has a well-earned reputation for authoritative and incisive reporting. Dateline has taken the traditional way of producing TV current affairs and turned it on its head. Reporters who used to travel with a cameraperson and sound recordist now travel alone and have the responsibility of both filming and reporting their stories. The reporters became video-journalists, gaining access to people and places that the conventional camera crews cannot.