GAZA - Islamic Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday condemned violence by the Libyan forces against protestors.

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A statement by Hamas said that the movement "strongly condemns massacres, airstrikes and artillery fire against Libyan people by the Libyan regime."

Protests have been reported in several cities in Libya, where people call for an end of leader Moammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian leadership said it hopes that peace, security and stability would prevail in Libya.

Nabil Abu Rdineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the incidents in Libya were "internal affairs."

Libya was rocked by unrest in the past week with unconfirmed media reports of hundreds of protesters killed in clashes with the security forces.

The United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon called for an immediate end to the violence in Libya given the report that the Libyan government used war planes and helicopters against demonstrators, according to the statement from Ban's spokesman.