Berlin  - Germany welcomed Wednesday a proposal by Egypt's President Hosny Mubarak for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and supporters of Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested German peacekeepers be sent to Gaza.

"If the parties to the conflict were to desire it, German soldiers could of course play a role," said Gert Weisskirchen, a Social Democratic spokesman on foreign policy in remarks to the Spiegel Online news website.

Sharm el-Sheikh - Egypt on Tuesday announced its proposal for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, to be followed by meetings to end the blockade of Gaza.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced the proposal during a press briefing with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy after their talks late Tuesday at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Cairo - Hamas will not accept a ceasefire with Israel unless all aggression against the Gaza Strip is halted, a Hamas spokesman said Tuesday.

The Lebanon-based Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the Hamas delegation in Cairo focused on achieving a halt of all aggression, then a ceasefire might be negotiated.

A Hamas delegation arrived late on Monday in Cairo to hold the first round of talks since the launch of Israeli military action in Gaza last month.

Cairo - An Egyptian court on Tuesday barred the government from exporting gas to Israel, a security source told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

The higher administrative court's ruling came against the government for exporting gas to Israel at a price below international gas price levels.

The ruling came as meanwhile members from Egypt's banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood took the streets demonstrating against the Israeli attacks on Gaza and demanding that Egypt to cut its relations with Israel.

Egypt and Israel sealed a 15-year gas deal in 2005 which gives Israel the right to import gas from Egypt at a fixed price.

Cairo - A delegation from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas is due to arrive in Cairo on Monday for talks with the Egyptian government, a senior official from Hamas has said.

Ayman Taha, a spokesman for Hamas, said in a statement that a delegation from the movement had been invited by the Egyptian government, to discuss the Israeli military incursions into the Gaza Strip.

Egypt, which brokered the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas which ended on December 19, is also receiving delegations from the European Union and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday, in an effort to end the fighting in the nearby Palestinian enclave.

Cairo - Mohammed Dahlan, a senior official of the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected insinuations in some Arab media that his group would return to power in the Gaza Strip on the heels of the Israeli incursion against the rival group Hamas.

In telephone comments to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa late Sunday, Dahlan, the former Fatah leader in Gaza prior to their expulsion by Hamas in June 2007, denied any such aims by his group.

"We do not want any power which has been purchased with the blood of Palestinians," Dahlan told dpa.