Fatah and Hamas officials agreed on Friday to take steps to end violence between the two rival Palestinian movements which has raised fears of civil war.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said an Egyptian security delegation had brokered the talks, which took place in the coastal strip.

"These efforts have been crowned by an agreement between Hamas and Fatah to stop tensions between the two sides and to bring the security situation under control," Barhoum said.

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It was the first high profile meeting in weeks between the two movements, whose power struggle sparked fighting this month between gunmen in which at least 19 people have been killed.

Fatah spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa said the two groups agreed to endorse dialogue as the only way to resolve differences.

"The agreement aimed at resolving internal violence and I hope it will be a serious start to remove tensions between the two movements," Abu Khoussa told Reuters.

The intense fighting has been some of the worst Palestinian-on-Palestinian violence since the Palestinian Authority was created in 1994.

Barhoum said as part of the agreement, a joint trouble-shooting office manned by members of both factions would be set up to resolve issues which may spill over into violence.

Officials said it could be set up as early as Friday.

Barhoum added that the two sides also agreed to end news conferences in which each faction accused the other of stoking tensions.

Earlier this week Ghazi Hamad, a senior figure in Hamas, published an article condemning internal violence and questioned whether it had become a "Palestinian disease".