GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Fatah central committee member Nabil Shaath met with Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar in Gaza City on Tuesday afternoon to progress the reconciliation deal between their parties.

In a press statement, Shaath said they discussed the political detentions in Gaza and the West Bank and ways to implement the agreement, despite all the obstacles facing the reconciliation.

Meanwhile, head of political independents Yasser Al-Waddiyeh announced a "senior reconciliation leadership committee" will meet for the first time on Wednesday in the Gaza Strip.

The committee will oversee the political environment and provide leadership over differences between the factions for a three-year term, he said.

It includes three Fatah, three Hamas, and three independent figures, and one representative from each of the nine other political factions.

Leaders of Fatah and Hamas signed a reconciliation deal in May 2011, which sought to end four years of bitter rivalry.

In the months since, the party rivals have sparred over the terms of the deal, but launched a new effort to see accord through in November 2011, when party chiefs President Mahmoud Abbas and Khalid Mashaal met in Cairo.

The agreement aims to end four years of division that split Gaza and the West Bank into separate administrations, and hold fresh elections within a year.