Fatah and Hamas agree to renew Gaza truce: 23 Palestinians killed in three days

Senior officials from rival Fatah and Hamas factions agreed on Saturday to pull their gunmen off the streets of Gaza and halt bloodshed which has killed 23 Palestinians in the last three days.
It was not immediately clear if the agreement, announced by Interior Minister Saeed Seyam of Hamas after talks with a top Fatah security official, could take hold in Gaza, where sporadic gunfire continued as the two sides were talking.
The internecine conflict has brought the coastal strip to a near-standstill and increased pressure on the "quartet" of peace brokers - the United States, the UN, European Union and Russia - to make a fresh effort to revive Middle East peace talks.
Seyam said he and Rashid Abu Shbak of Fatah agreed "an immediate cease-fire, removing gunmen from the streets and rooftops of buildings and removing all the checkpoints". Police would also deploy to restore law and order on the streets, he said, replacing rival security forces, which were facing off across Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians.
Eight people were wounded in gunbattles on Saturday. Residents said clashes appeared to ease during the day, but the two sides were still abducting rivals at checkpoints. Schools and shops were closed in Gaza City and residents near the two universities sheltered indoors to escape gunfire. Abu Amr, a 40-year-old Gazan with three school-age children, said he was keeping them at home even if schools re-opened.
"I will not send them until I am sure that there are no gunmen in the street and we stop hearing the sounds of bullets and explosions," he said. He described the repeatedly violated cease-fire agreements as "a joke and a broken record".
More than 80 Palestinians have been killed in fighting since talks on a Palestinian unity government broke down in December and President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah called for early elections, a step the governing Hamas movement condemned as a coup. Hamas took control of the Palestinian government in March after beating Fatah in parliamentary elections.
Facing US-led sanctions because of its refusal to formally recognise Israel, renounce violence and commit to existing peace accords, Hamas has struggled to govern but says holding another election would amount to a coup.
At least 23 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 wounded since Hamas fighters ambushed a convoy they said was carrying military equipment to Abbas's forces on Thursday.
At the urging of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, Abbas and Meshaal agreed to hold meetings on Tuesday in the holy Muslim city of Mecca to try to resolve their differences over a unity government, Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdainah said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the latest Western leader to visit the region, travelling to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf on a four-day trip starting on Saturday. Officials said the central subject of her talks would be the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.