Cairo - Egypt is hosting Israeli negotiator Amos Gilad on Thursday and a delegation from Hamas soon after for talks aimed at turning both sides' unilateral ceasefire declarations into a single, lasting truce agreement.

A member of Hamas' negotiating team told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Thursday that a date had not yet been set for further talks between Hamas and Egyptian officials, but that he expected they would take place within the next few days.

Isolated incidents aside, relative calm has returned to Gaza since Hamas and Israel agreed to stop shooting. But Hamas agreed only to a one-week pause in fighting, and demanded the withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the blockade of Gaza.

The talks in Cairo over the next few days will likely focus on means of opening the the border crossings to humanitarian aid and trade, a key Hamas and Arab demand, while securing the Egyptian-Gazan border against weapons smuggling, a key Israeli demand.

Israel withdrew the last of its soldiers from Gaza on Wednesday afternoon, removing the first sticking point in negotiations.

In a televised address Wednesday night, Hamas political leader Khalid Mashaal claimed an "unequivocal victory" over Israeli forces in Gaza, saying it would open the way for the "liberation of Jerusalem."

"This is the first real war which the Palestinian people have waged and won on Palestinian soil," Mashaal said. "The liberation of Palestine is no longer a dream, but it has become a reality thanks to the steadfastness of the resistance in Gaza."

Egyptian officials met separately with delegations from Hamas and Israel repeatedly over the course of three weeks of intense fighting in the Gaza strip, pushing a three-step program for ending hostilities proposed by President Hosny Mubarak.

"The first step of the Egyptian initiative, the ceasefire, has been successful since we are now seeing Israeli troops pull out from Gaza," Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said on Wednesday.

Diaa Rashwan, an analyst at Cairo's semi-official Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies, told dpa on Thursday that he expected the talks with Hamas to focus on the extension of the truce agreement and reconciliation between Palestinian factions.

"Hamas has already presented its demands regarding reconciliation with Fatah," he said. "First, Hamas wants the release of all Hamas militants held in Palestinian prisons. Then it wants Fatah to stop collaborating with Israel on security."

Rashwan told dpa that he thought the fighting in Gaza had boosted Hamas' popularity in the region and weakened Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Rashwan said Egypt's tone regarding Hamas had become more "positive" in recent days. He noted the Egyptian foreign ministry referred to the Palestinian group as "elected Hamas" and as part of the national authority of Palestine.

"But," he stressed, "Egypt does not want to give all the cards to Hamas by conferring legitimacy to their control of Gaza." (dpa)