Cairo - Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak called on Saturday for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the strip.

"I call on the (Israeli) leadership for an immediate unconditional ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip," Mubarak said in an address on national television.

In an affirmative tone, Mubarak added that Egypt is securing its own border with the Gaza Strip and will never accept any foreign observers on its land.

Cairo - Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg arrived to Cairo Saturday for talks with Egyptian officials over possible a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Schwarzenberg, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said the EU fully backed efforts for an immediate ceasefire in the strip.

Following his meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minster Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Schwarzenberg said discussions tackled "post ceasefire plans which includes rebuilding Gaza."

Dubai - A senior Israeli negotiator told the Egyptian government on Friday that Israel rejects a one-year truce with Hamas and wants the truce to be open-ended, al-Arabia satellite channel reported.

Amos Gilad in a short visit to Egypt said that Israel would agree to open its borders with Gaza if Hamas releases the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shailt.

Shalit was captured by Palestinian militants in 2006.

Kuwait City/Doha - Diplomatic discord reigned on Friday in the Arab world in the midst of three competing summits aimed at bringing a ceasefire to Gaza.

Following a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council members in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on Thursday, neighbouring state Qatar hosted its own conference on Friday, with members of Hamas' Damascus- based political bureau present. Egypt, the main mediator between the militant Palestinian movement and Israel, did not attend.

A further meeting on the Gaza crisis was due to take place at an Arab League economic meeting in Kuwait on Monday.

Gaza City /Tel Aviv - Israeli ground troops pulled back to the outskirts of Gaza City Friday, as Israeli officials were in Washington and once again Cairo Friday to work out the details of an agreement to end nearly three weeks of deadly fighting.

As the talks went on, the troops pushed toward al-Zahara, a town in the centre of the strip, sparking heavy gunbattles with local militants in the late afternoon.

Cairo - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday renewed his calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and stressed that all UN member states are obliged to abide by UN Security Council resolutions.

He made his appeal after his meeting with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in Cairo where he arrived as fighting in Gaza entered its 19th day and the Palestinian death toll neared 1,000. In the second such strike this week, militants in Lebanon fired three Katyusha rockets into northern Israel Wednesday morning.