GAZA CITY, Dec 17: Armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Fatah, agreed on a ceasefire on Sunday to end unrest, Ibrahim Abu Najja, head of a high-level committee that includes all the groups, told AFP.

“There is an agreement between all armed Palestinian groups for a ceasefire and to end the violence,” said Abu Najja after a day of unrest in Gaza in which at least three Palestinians were killed.

The development was confirmed by Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan, who told AFP that the ceasefire pact stipulates that “armed men must stop circulating on the streets”.

Earlier, a colonel in the Palestinian national security service belonging to President Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party was kidnapped and killed on Sunday in the Gaza Strip by Hamas militants, a Fatah spokesman said.

A Palestinian woman was killed in an explosion of tit-for-tat violence between rival factions in the Gaza Strip following President Mahmud Abbas's high-stakes call for early elections.

Explosions and automatic gunshots rocked central Gaza City for hours as Hamas and Fatah gunmen traded fire around the presidential compound. A 19-year-old was killed and six others were wounded, including a 10-year-old girl and a veteran French war reporter.

Two people were wounded after mortar shells hit the presidential compound in Gaza City and seven were wounded when forces loyal to Hamas opened fire on pro-Abbas demonstrators in the north of the territory.

Unidentified gunmen also fired on hardline Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmud Zahar's vehicle in Gaza but he escaped unscathed, his spokesman said.—AFP