Fatah has agreed to an Egyptian proposal for the two main Palestinian factions to separately sign a long-delayed unity deal by 15 October, a senior party official said on Tuesday.

"Fatah has decided to send Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of its central committee ... to give the Egyptian leaders the movement's written agreement," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

According to another Fatah official, "Egypt gave Hamas 48 hours to present its final response to the Palestinian reconciliation document."

The Islamist movement Hamas would not immediately comment on the report.

Egypt had announced last week that the rivals would sign the unity deal in Cairo on 25-26 October.

But Hamas has asked for a postponement because of the controversial decision of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who is the Fatah leader, to support deferring a vote on a damning Gaza war report at the UN Human Rights Council.

According to the latest Egyptian proposal, the two rivals would separately sign a unity deal by 15 October and the rest of the Palestinian factions by 20 October.

An official ceremony in Cairo would be postponed until after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha in late November-early December.

Fatah and Hamas have increasingly been at odds since January 2006, when the Islamists routed the long-dominant secular party in Palestinian parliamentary elections.

The two parties signed a reconciliation deal in Saudi Arabia in February 2007 after months of escalating tensions dissolved into deadly Gaza street clashes.

But the tensions boiled over again, and a week of deadly street battles ended with Hamas routing pro-Fatah forces from Gaza in June 2007, effectively cleaving the Palestinians into separate rival entities.