Cairo/Beirut - A delegation from Hamas' leadership in Gaza on Tuesday crossed into Egypt to continue cease-fire negotiations in Cairo as Israelis went to the polls in an election whose outcome could influence the talks.

The four-member delegation, which includes the movement's spokesman, Ayman Taha, will join other Hamas negotiators who have been meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials to hash out a deal to establish a long-term ceasefire and open Gaza's borders.

A Hamas representative in Lebanon on Tuesday said the group was waiting to see how the outcome of the Israeli elections would affect the negotiations over Gaza.

"It all depends on the ouctome of the Israeli elections," Osama Hamdan told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Tuesday.

"If the right-wing Likud party wins, I don't think that the current government will be able to reach an agreement regarding a long-term truce in Gaza. If the current government wins, they could reach an agreement," he said.

Hamadan said the Hamas delegation in Cairo was "still in the process of discussing some essential sticking points, such as the opening of the Gaza crossings."

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Monday that he hoped a lasting Gaza truce could come into effect "perhaps as early as next week."

Those comments came after Saturday meetings between Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, and Egyptian intelligence officials. Al-Zahar traveled to Damascus after those meetings for consultations with Hamas' exiled political leaders there.

Al-Zahar reportedly stopped in Doha for consultations with Qatari leadership on his way back to Cairo.

Egypt is brokering parallel, indirect talks between Hamas and Israeli negotiators to establish a lasting cease-fire.

Egyptian intelligence officials are trying to get Hamas to agree to a deal that would end Palestinian arms smuggling into Gaza, a key Israeli demand, and re-open the coastal enclave's border crossings, one of Hamas' key demands. dpa