Palestinian government and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group have agreed to try to end tensions between them after their supporters clashed in the worst internal fighting in months.

The armed confrontations in Gaza on Saturday, which wounded 20 people, followed the condemnation by exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal of Abbas's veto of a new Gaza security force, formed by Hamas and headed by a top militant.

"The two parties have agreed to call on our people to stop all forms of tension and to cement national unity," Mahar Meqdad, the Fatah spokesman, told reporters after a meeting on Sunday between the two groups, mediated by Egyptian officials.

Officials from the groups did not elaborate on what practical steps would be taken on the ground to stop violence.

"Internal orders were given to guarantee there would be no return to friction," said Sami Abu Zuhri, the Hamas spokesman, adding that a joint Hamas-Fatah committee would be formed to discuss how to handle any future disputes between the groups.

The appointment of Jamal Abu Samhadana, head of the Popular Resistance Committees which has often attacked Israel, as leader of a new Gaza police force was widely seen as an attempt by Hamas to strengthen its grip on the Interior Ministry.

Abbas cancelled the decision. Meshaal said Abbas's move assisted a Western campaign to isolate the Palestinian government.

Students and militants loyal to Hamas or to Fatah took to the streets, exchanging gunfire in Gaza and wounding 20 people.

Chanting "Meshaal is a traitor," thousands of Fatah loyalists marched in Gaza, some firing rifles in the air. Many also protested in the West Bank.

Meshaal said after the violence on Saturday that Hamas respected Abbas's authority and called for Palestinian unity, saying: "We were united during the (uprising) in confronting the Israeli occupation. Today we have to be united in politics."

The Interior Ministry said the new Gaza force would work from within the existing security establishment, headed mainly by Fatah loyalists, but Abbas's aides said only the Palestinian president could make decisions regarding the government.

The Gaza Strip has seen growing lawlessness in recent years among members of rival armed groups; but Hamas and Fatah had rarely engaged in violent confrontations.

Ghazi Hamad, the cabinet spokesman, said aides to Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister, would meet to try and solve the Gaza security dispute ahead of a meeting between the leaders later in the month when Abbas returns from a visit abroad.

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