Leaders of four Arab states and Kuwait, host of the first Arab economic summit, have held talks here in a bid to heal rifts exposed by Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip, local media reported on Tuesday.

Leaders of Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Kuwait held a meeting at the residence of Saudi King Abdullah following the opening session of the Arab economic summit in Kuwait City on Monday, a Kuwaiti source was quoted by daily Kuwait Times as saying.

The efforts to heal the rifts were launched by Kuwait with the help of other Arab nations in the Gulf, said the unidentified Kuwaiti source.

Meanwhile, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani told the Doha-based satellite television Al-Jazeera that reconciliation has been achieved between Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Syria, without giving any details of the deal.

Arab countries are at odds over how to address the Gaza crisis, with some nations calling for strong action while others prefer a more moderate approach.

The split came into the spotlight when Egypt and Saudi Arabia, close allies in the region with the United States, shunned an emergency summit called by Doha. Qatar, the only Gulf Arab state with ties to Israel, hastily hosted an emergency summit on Friday though it did not secure the quorum of two thirds of Arab League (AL) members required for a formal Arab summit.

A day before the Doha summit, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz even assembled leaders of six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries for an emergency summit in Riyadh in a move seen to pre-empt Qatar's bid, but in vain.

During Monday's inauguration session of the Kuwait summit, the Arab leaders conceded that division exists in the Arab world and called for unity in face of the Gaza crisis and other serious challenges.