Armed Palestinians exchanged fire outside the Gaza Strip residence of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas early Monday, hours after officials from Hamas and Fatah announced that a cease-fire agreement had been reached.
As the truce was signed late Sunday, gunfire could still be heard near Abbas' offices in Gaza City, witnesses said. Others reported a major gun battle near Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan's house in Gaza. Dahlan was not in the home when the clashes took place.
Also, minutes after the deal was announced, word came that a Palestinian Authority security officer abducted earlier in the day had been executed.
Hamas official Ismail Rudwan said the parties had agreed to resume talks on forming a unity government, halt armed displays, return security forces to their headquarters, free men abducted by each side and end a siege of government ministries.
The truce was brokered by three small Palestinian factions - the Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Egyptian mediators were also involved in the talks, it was reported.
"Fatah is trying to control it's forces. We hope there will be a cease-fire. We have serious intentions of stopping the fighting," Fatah spokesman Tawfik Abu Khoussa said. "It is now up to the other side to also stop firing."
The agreement includes an end to the fighting, the removal of armed gunmen from the streets, an end to all demonstrations and incitement in the media, and the release of captives by both sides, said Salah Zidan, a senior official in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
According to Zidan, the factions have agreed to establish a joint committee to probe the recent violence, including the attack on Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's convoy in Rafah late Thursday night.
The truce was announced at a press conference in Gaza City after midnight, but representatives of Fatah and Hamas did not appear at the conference, leaving the announcement to Rabbah Muhanna, a senior official in the small Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. "Both sides are serious about the agreement," Muhanna assured reporters.
