PLO officials gathered in Ramallah on Monday evening to discuss Hamas' decision to suspend voter registration in the Gaza Strip earlier in the day.

Electoral officials were set to start registration on Tuesday, the first time rolls have been updated in Gaza since 2005.

The meeting in the West Bank, headed by Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas, called the move an "unjustifiable decision which contradicts with all agreements reached in Cairo and Doha."

"The Palestinian leadership is surprised by Hamas’ behavior which will impede the first step towards reconciliation, and return us to a tense atmosphere, which we had moved on from," a statement released after the meeting said.

Hamas officials said Monday that the escalation in detentions of Hamas members in the Fatah-run West Bank meant that Hamas affiliates could not register to vote, or hold party meetings to prepare for elections.

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar accusing Fatah of planning electoral fraud. He said the Central Elections Commission was dominated by Fatah members, effectively allowing Fatah to supervise the electoral process.

Meanwhile Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri complained that voter registration was not being carried out in the West Bank.

Electoral registration was slated as the first step to implementing the long-stalled reconciliation deal between the factions signed in May 2011.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights on Monday condemned Hamas' "unjustified and unaccepted intervention" in the elections commission's work.

All political parties must maintain the CEC's independence and refrain from intervening in its work, PCHR said in a statement.