GAZA, June 3 (Reuters) - Hamas expanded its administration in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in an effort to strengthen its hold on the coastal territory, a senior official from the Islamist group said.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh's decision to add another six ministers to his Gaza cabinet opposes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's demand that the group hand over control of the enclave.

Hamas Islamists took over Gaza after routing secular Fatah forces loyal to Abbas in June 2007.

A senior Hamas government official told Reuters that the six new ministers are pro-Hamas and include a Gaza mayor and a lecturer at Gaza's Islamic University.

In the West Bank, Fatah spokesman Fahmi al-Zarir said Hamas's move would deepen divisions and said the Islamist group was not serious in its calls for reconciliation with Abbas.

"Adding more people to an illegitimate body is worthless, but it signals that Hamas wants to consolidate the authority it gained from a coup in Gaza," Zarir told Reuters.

Hamas defeated Abbas's long-dominant Fatah movement in parliamentary elections in January 2006, spurring the United States and European Union to suspend aid to the Hamas-led government.

In an effort to end the Western boycott, Abbas and Haniyeh agreed to form a unity government in March 2007, but the administration collapsed a few months later amid factional fighting that culminated in Hamas's takeover of Gaza.

Abbas dismissed the Hamas-led government and formed a Western-backed cabinet in the occupied West Bank. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)

AlertNet news is provided by