The Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas, currently holding the fifth round of reconciliation talks in Cairo, agreed on Sunday to form joint security forces in the Gaza Strip, said a senior Fatah official at the talks.

"Hamas and Fatah agreed to form joint security forces in Gaza, which will be in charge of the security service in Gaza until January," Nabil Shaath, a leading Fatah delegate, said in a statement at the end of Sunday's talks.

He added that representatives of all the Palestinian factions will come to Cairo for the final round of reconciliation talks on July 5, when the draft document of a unity deal would be discussed.

"On July 7, the day of the signing of the final agreement, a committee of Egyptian and Arab officers would go to Gaza to supervise the rebuilding of Palestinian security forces," he said.

The pan-Arab al-Jazeera satellite TV quoted Egyptian sources assaying that Cairo insists the draft agreement of the current round of talks be presented to the final round of talks on July 7.

According to Shaath, a committee in charge of the unity government will discuss on Monday the Egyptian proposal of forming a Palestinian national committee directed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The proposed committee would not have any international or political mission beyond preparing for elections, rebuilding the security services and supervising the reconstruction of Gaza.

Al-Jazeera also quoted Palestinian sources as saying that Egyptis imposing "positive pressure" on Fatah and Hamas delegations to broker a deal.

A joint governing body that ends the rift between Hamas-ruled Gaza and Fatah-dominated West Bank is the major topic of the meeting, which started Saturday afternoon at the sponsorship of Egypt. However, the two parties have yet to agree on the political platform of the proposed unity government.

Azzam al-Ahmad with the Fatah delegation told reporters during Sunday's talks that Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, point man of the Palestinian talks, has assured the two sides that "Cairo would not allow the dialogue to end without an agreement."

He added that Cairo had offered to open the Rafah border crossing continuously if all Palestinian factions make a final deal to end the split in the Palestinian territories.

He said Suleiman had stressed that Cairo will take part in the reform of the Rafah crossing on both sides, adding that Egypt had conducted necessary contacts with Israel and the United States regarding the matter.

Rafah land crossing between Gaza and Egypt is the sole gateway of Gaza that bypasses Israeli checkpoints. Israel and Egypt closed their borders with the Gaza Strip in 2007 after Hamas took over the territory by force. Since then, Egypt has periodically opened the crossing for humanitarian cases.

Egypt opened the crossing on Saturday and Sunday and allowed some 300 Palestinians holding foreign passports and residence permits of Gaza into the enclave and over 600 patients to cross into Egypt. On Sunday, it announced to open the crossing for one more day.

Egypt has said that it will continue to sponsor the dialogue and create a proper atmosphere for ending the current rift between Fatah and Hamas.

Yet, Palestinian observers in Gaza have voiced concern that even if a reconciliation agreement is signed among the factions, mainly between Fatah and Hamas, there will be difficulties that might impede the implementation of the agreement.