The protesters held pictures of President Mahmoud Abbas and shouted in rage against the Hamas-led government, accusing it of being responsible for prompting the West to cut off crucial aid to the Palestinians.

The demonstrators also waved banners which read "We need food and milk for our families" and briefly broke into the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) building in the city when the parliament was sitting in on a session.

The security members demanded the parliament to question the Hamas-led government about its conduct since the cabinet was formed in late March.

Some of the protesters fired into the air, smashed windows and the main gate of the parliament building while calling on the government to resign.

The Hamas-led Palestinian government has failed to pay civil servants including security forces and police since March due to a deepening financial crisis caused by the West's cutoffs of aid and Israel's freezing of tax revenues.

Key Western donors, including the United States and the European Union, have cut off direct aid to the Hamas government since Hamas refuses to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and honor previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements.

Israel has also halted the monthly transfer of about 55 million U.S. dollars of tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians since Hamas' sweeping victory in the January Palestinian legislative elections.

The EU and the U.S. are currently considering a new mechanism to give some humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, but the money is not expected to foot the Palestinian government salary bill.

The aid cut and tax freezing have led to a grave financial crisis and some experts have warned of a looming humanitarian disaster on the Palestinian territories.

Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, publicly calls for Israel's destruct.

On Tuesday, Palestinian Prime Minister and senior Hamas leader Ismail Haneya announced that about 40,000 government employees, orabout one fourth of the total, would be paid within days.

"Civil servants with salary of or below 1,500 shekels (about332 U.S. dollars) a month will be paid one month's salary in the coming days," Haneya announced at a weekly cabinet meeting.

"Other civil servants will be given an advance," he added. But the Hamas prime minister did not reveal where the money came from.