The Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniya and the president, Mahmoud Abbas, have agreed to keep armed members of their rival Hamas and Fatah factions off Gaza's streets after six people were killed.
 
The two leaders held the emergency meeting in Gaza City late on Thursday in their first meeting for two months.
 
Speaking after the meeting ended early on Friday, Haniya said: "We have expressed our regret and sorrow for these incidents that do not reflect our struggle."
 
He said he would appoint a judge to form a commission to examine the recent inter-Palestinian clashes, AFP news agency reported.
 
In fighting between rival Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, a policeman loyal to Haniya's governing Hamas movement was killed by armed Fatah members.
 
Blaming the shooting on bodyguards of Colonel Mohammed Ghareeb of the Preventive Security Service, Hamas gunmen then besieged his home in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, killing the officer and four of his men and wounding his wife.
 
Clashes also erupted in the nearby Jabalya refugee camp and at least 30 people were wounded, hospital officials said.
 
Fatah confirmation
Abbas challenged Hamas by calling in December for early parliamentary and presidential elections after talks on forming a unity government failed.
 
Haniya said he and Abbas agreed to "withdraw all gunmen from the streets and deploy police forces to keep law and order".

Abbas made no public comment after the session, but a diplomat who attended the talks and declined to be identified confirmed an agreement had been reached.
 
Similar pacts in the past have been shattered swiftly by violence and Gazans said they feared another eruption of bloodshed on Friday when Thursday's dead are buried.

Photo caption

The Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniya