The security forces of the deposed Hamas government in the Gaza Strip arrested on Wednesday a senior member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, Fatah sources said.

The sources told Xinhua that Hamas security forces arrested Osama al-Farra, a member of Fatah's revolutionary council and former governor of the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, at his home in Gaza.

Al-Farra fled the Gaza Strip after Hamas seized control of the enclave by force in June 2007. However, he returned to Gaza Strip in February 2010 with the former governors of Gaza City and the town of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip.

On his return, al-Farra said that the three former governors returned to the Gaza Strip aiming to prepare the atmosphere for achieving inter-reconciliation between the two rival groups.

Earlier on Wednesday, the security forces of President Abbas arrested Mohamed Ghazal, a senior Hamas leader, from his house in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Hamas still refuses to sign on a reconciliation pact drafted by Egypt in October, saying it has reservations that need to be reconsidered.