Hamas and Fatah gunmen were seen leaving the streets of Gaza on Saturday evening, and local residents ventured out, after the fifth cease-fire since the start of the devasting infighting appeared to take hold.

The leaders of the two warring factions agreed earlier Saturday to a renewed truce in a bid to stop factional fighting verging on civil war, a spokesman for the Hamas-led unity government said. More than 50 people have been killed in the latest round of fighting, the first since Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a unity government two months ago.

The Saturday truce agreement was worked out in a meeting at the Egyptian Embassy in Gaza and endorsed both by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and exiled Hamas leader political Khaled Meshal. Both sides promised to pull fighters off the streets, dismantle roadblocks and exchange hostages seized during the seven days of clashes.

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Shortly after the truce was agreed, clashes erupted outside the home of a senior Fatah official in Gaza City. Security officials said several people were wounded. In the course of the gunbattle, the convoy of a Fatah-allied colonel in the Palestinian intelligence came under fire, but no one was hurt.

Later, however, teams of representatives from the various Palestinian militant factions went around to buildings to make sure gunmen had come down from rooftops. Once rooftops were cleared, the exchange of an unknown number of hostages kidnapped during the past week was to begin. Other faction members removed roadblocks that had been erected during the fighting to identify gunmen from rival factions.

In another sign of the shaky nature of the truce, several hostages from both factions were released only after their captors shot them in the legs, both sides said.

At one Gaza City building that had been the site of fierce fighting, Hamas fighters climbed down carrying a cache of rocket-propelled grenades, bags of explosives and AK-47 rifles.

"The main guarantee is that this agreement was reached by... Mr. Abbas and Mr. Meshal," Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said.

"We are trying to have an atmosphere of national unity and reconciliation. The most important thing is to stop any form of internal violence between Palestinians."

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said he expected Saturday's truce to stick because of Israel's ongoing military strikes, aimed at halting the wave of Qassam fire on its Negev communities. "No one would accept to fight one another while the Israelis are shelling Gaza," he said.

Mervat, a resident who would only give her first name for fear of reprisal, said the fighting terrorized her 5-year old daughter, who thought the conflict was with Israelis. The two never left home throughout the fighting.

"Hopefully it will stick this time. We are the only losers if this continues," Mervat said.

She and other residents who had remained holed up at home throughout the fighting stepped out hesitantly to shop for groceries and other supplies.

Ribhi Barghouti held up a fistful of burnt American dollars. He said mortars fell in his apartment, destroying his furniture and burning up his wife's passport and $13,000 the couple had stashed away.

"I lost everything... It is impossible to tell what will happen in this place anymore," he said. He plans to return to his native West Bank as soon as his wife replaces her ID, he said

While both sides were working on an agreement that would end the fighting, Deputy Palestinian Prime Minister Azzam al-Ahmad said Saturday that a security force loyal to Hamas must be disbanded in order for the latest round of factional violence to truly come to an end.

Al-Ahmad, a Fatah leader and an outspoken critic of Hamas, accused Hamas's Executive Force of carrying out executions that have pushed Palestinians to the brink of civil war.

"I demand now the dissolution of the Hamas Executive Force and to integrate it into the security forces apparatus," al-Ahmad told Reuters, repeating calls he and other Fatah officials have made in the past.

Hamas officials say the Executive Force was created to combat lawlessness and accused al-Ahmad of colluding with Israel and the United States in seeking to eliminate the force.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders have rejected calls to disband the 5,600-strong force, which is seen as a counterweight to the existing security forces, including Abbas's elite Presidential Guard.

Previous four cease-fire agreements have failed

The previous four agreements reached in the past week of deadly factional fighting quickly collapsed, and it was not clear if this one would hold.

On Saturday morning, fighting broke out near Gaza City's Islamic University, a Hamas stronghold, and two Fatah militants were wounded.

On Friday, Palestinian officials conferred among themselves and with other Arab leaders in an attempt to solicit their help in cooling the raging violence in the Gaza Strip.

Abbas spoke by phone with Meshal, who urged senior Hamas and Fatah officials to meet, and with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti met with King Abdullah of Jordan on the sidelines of an international conference at the Dead Sea.

Friday evening, a Fatah militant and a Hamas militant were killed in factional clashes in Gaza City.

Earlier Friday, 40-year-old Palestinian fisherman Samir Amodi was shot in the head as he got caught in the crossfire while standing in Gaza City's harbor.

The warring Palestinian factions traded accusations Friday, with Hamas branding Fatah members traitors, and Fatah saying that Hamas had no intention of abiding by a cease-fire.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates' Abu Dhabi TV bureau chief in Gaza was kidnapped briefly by Hamas on Friday. Abdel-Salam Abu Askar, an associate of Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan, was freed several hours later, and was dropped off by a military jeep belonging to the Hamas Executive Force. Hamas had earlier denied involvement in the abduction.

In a telephone interview after his release Abu Askar refused to name his captors, saying "those who abducted me are known but I do not wish to say who they are on air."

Palestinian sources said that the bureau director of a senior Fatah leader in Gaza, Abdullah Franji, had also been snatched by Hamas on Friday. By Saturday, he had not been freed.

Fresh fighting broke out Friday near Gaza City's Islamic University, with Hamas firing grenades at Fatah forces and Fatah responding with a hail of gunfire.

Hamas fighters in control of the university battled Fatah forces who had taken up positions in the nearby foreign ministry building. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Haniyeh called Friday on Palestinians to unite against "Israeli aggression" and cease internal fighting.

"All members of the security services should abide by the instructions of the political leadership and return to their positions and bases, and also all gunmen should pull out of the streets," Haniyeh told reporters.

At the center of the fighting is a dispute over who controls the security forces in the territories. A majority of the 80,000 security officers in the West Bank and the Strip are loyal to Abbas of Fatah, while Hamas set up its own 6,000-strong militia last year.

The fighting has all-but destroyed a two-month-old power sharing deal between them, and brought the Palestinians close to all-out civil war.

On Friday, Hamas Web sites, radio and TV carried accusations that forces loyal to Abbas were working with Israel, a charge dismissed as absurd by a Fatah spokesman.

On Friday, Hamas TV also named three Fatah security chiefs who it said were in secret contact with foreign security personnel to exchange information on Palestinian militant groups.

"They are deep into treason, and we will deal with them accordingly," the broadcast said. The TV did not specify which foreigners, but Fatah forces affiliated with Abbas have received advice and training from the U.S.

With his aides citing security concerns, Abbas canceled a Thursday trip to Gaza for talks with Haniyeh.

The Gaza street battles were down from their height two days ago Friday, but the most recent cease-fire worked out between the sides was not holding.

General Jamal Kayed, Fatah's security commander in Gaza, said his group had already begun implementing the cease-fire but said Hamas was not willing to follow suit.

Walid al-Awad, a member of a committee set up to implement the cease-fire, said his team worked late into the night to get the sides to withdraw from the streets, but to no avail.

"Nothing has been implemented, and I have warned both sides that this a time bomb that is sabotaging our efforts," al-Awad said.

Gunfire could be heard in many areas in Gaza, and gunmen who had promised to withdraw from the streets were still manning roadblocks and taking up positions on rooftops.

"Our retaliation for [Fatah's] crimes is going to be beyond their imagination," Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas's military wing, said Friday.

Earlier Friday, two Palestinians were wounded near the government complex in the Gaza Strip and another was hurt in an exchange of fire outside the Islamic University, a Hamas stronghold.

Hamas officials said Abbas's Presidential Guard was firing grenades at their fighters. The office of the university's president, Kamelen Shaath, was attacked by rocket propelled grenades, according to Hamas.

Shaath appealed for an immediate halt to the violence.

"Universities must be outside the circle of violence and I appeal to the president and all the wise people on both sides to try and spare the university the agony of this fight," he said.

Nearly 50 people, mostly Fatah members, have been killed since the fighting erupted Sunday. At least 17 people were killed Wednesday alone, in the worst single day of fighting since Fatah and Hamas agreed to form the unity government.