Gaza Strip: Violence threatened to spiral out of control after Hamas gunmen killed a senior Palestinian security commander and four of his guards at his Gaza home.

 Israeli forces killed four people in the West Bank during an arrest raid, drawing harsh criticism from Egypt's President.

"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas met early Friday in Gaza and agreed to work to defuse the tensions and pull back their forces," Haniyeh told sources.

"We are going to end all armed displays in the streets," he said.

 Abbas had no comment. The body of Col. Mohammed Ghayeb, chief of the Preventive Security Service in northern Gaza, riddled with bullets and mutilated by stab wounds, was found in his home in northern Gaza Thursday after a daylong battle with Hamas gunmen.

"The killing of the senior officer was likely to spark reprisal raids. In several places in the West Bank late Thursday, Fatah militants attacked Hamas offices and vehicles. One Hamas activist was wounded," Palestinian security officials said.

Ghayeb was on the phone to Palestine TV just moments before his death and appealed for help as his house came under attack.

"They are killers," he said of the Hamas gunmen.

"They are targeting the house, children are dying, they are bleeding. For God's sake, send an ambulance, we want an ambulance, somebody move," he said.

The battle outside the house raged for much of the day and killed four of Ghayeb's guards and a Hamas gunman.

About three dozen people, including eight children, were also wounded. During the standoff outside Ghayeb's home in Beit Lahiya, dozens of women rushed into the streets in protest.

The persistent factional fighting  large scale confrontations began in Gaza a month ago _ are a result of the political deadlock between Hamas, which controls the Cabinet, and Abbas, who was elected separately and also wields considerable power.

The Israeli raid in the West Bank, which turned downtown Ramallah into a battlefield with dozens of cars smashed and vegetable carts overturned, further undercut Abbas in his increasingly violent power struggle with Hamas.

The raid started out as a routine arrest operation but quickly escalated into a major clash. Militants discovered the undercover soldiers as they burst into a vegetable market and opened fire on them, forcing Israel to send in reinforcements.

Four Palestinians were killed and 20 wounded in the fighting.

The Israelis eventually left after detaining four suspects. For about two hours, a heavy battle raged in the normally quiet city, sending residents scrambling for cover. Bursts of gunfire, loud booms and ambulance sirens could be heard across Ramallah.

At one point, a helicopter fired large caliber bullets in what the army said was deterrent fire.
 

It was the first major raid since the Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to try to ease tensions between the sides. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak just a few hours after the Ramallah raid, apologized for any civilian casualties, but said the raid was intended to protect Israel from terrorist attacks.
 

"Things developed in a way that could not have been predicted in advance. If innocent people were hurt, this was not our intention," he said.

The summit had been intended to push for new Israeli Palestinian peace efforts, but was overshadowed by the violence.
 

 "Standing next to Olmert in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheik, Mubarak condemned the raid. Israel's security cannot be achieved through military force but by serious endeavors toward peace," he said.

Abbas said in a harshly worded statement that Israel's peace promises rang hollow in light of the raid and demanded US 5 million (3.8 million) in compensation for the damage to shops and cars in Ramallah.

 Israeli Cabinet minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, a former defense minister, criticized the raid's timing.

"I don't think this operation should have been carried out on the day of a visit by the Israeli Prime Minister to a country in which we have a supreme strategic interest," said Ben Eliezer told sources.