Cairo - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met in Cairo Saturday with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak as part of diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after 15 days of Israeli attacks which have left over 800 dead and thousands wounded.

Abbas expressed his strong backing for the Egyptian-French initiative of last week calling for a cessation of violence, allowing aid to reach civilians, and for the Israelis and Palestinians to take steps to make sure another conflict does not erupt, including the possibility of international peacekeeping forces.

The Palestinian leader backed the plan, saying at a press conference after his talks with Mubarak, "We need an international presence to protect the people in the Gaza Strip and not just international observers on the border with Egypt."

Abbas also called on Hamas to accept the Egyptian initiative as "there is no time for hesitation."

Abbas said the initiative is the main mechanism by which Thursday's UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip could be put into action.

He noted that so far the Security Council resolution unfortunately had not yet had any immediate impact.

"But the Egyptian initiative is the mechanism for the resolution to materialize and to be activated so that Israeli aggression would be halted," Abbas said, describing Cairo's call as a "life-saving" effort which came at "the right time."

Abbas' talks with Mubarak came as meanwhile German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also met in Cairo with Mubarak as Germany joined in the international diplomatic efforts. From Egypt, Steinmeier will fly to Israel to meet with officials there, including Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

The Palestinian president praised the "major efforts" by Arab states to push for the Security Council resolution which he described as the "bottom line" of what the Arabs could achieve.

A delegation from Hamas is expected later Saturday to continue discussion with Egyptian officials on the initiative. Hamas has said that it has some reservations that need to be addressed. (dpa)