Comments by Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon who is close to Damascus-based top leader Khaled Mashaal, also signaled that Hamas for now is holding out on backing the peace plan but not rejecting it either, apparently hoping to improve the conditions, possibly by including ideas from other proposals.
Hamdan had earlier on Wednesday said Hamas had 'major reservations in principle' on the Egyptian proposals. But he told Al-Jazeera TV that Hamas was studying the plan and would give a clear position later.
Egypt's plan calls for a cease-fire for a limited period of time designed to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, an urgent meeting between both Israel and the Palestinians to discuss ways to prevent further military action and reasons for the conflict including lifting the blockade of Gaza.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak also called on the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian factions to renew reconciliation talks.
One small radical Palestinian faction based in Damascus, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, rejected the proposals. A statement described the plan as a 'political maneuver aimed at imposing new truce conditions that would achieve for the Zionists the goals of their aggression'.
PFLP-GC has little influence in Gaza but maintains bases in Lebanon and has vowed to open new fronts with Israel if the Israeli offensive continues.
As the fighting raged, diplomacy picked up, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy touring the region, including Syria, to work for a truce.
On Wednesday, Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani met with Syrian President Bashar Assad to discuss the 'dangerous situation in Gaza,' Syria's official news agency said. Larijani also met separately with the Damascus-based exiled leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, according to journalists who witnessed the meetings.
Details of the talks were not divulged.
Syria's foreign minister, Walid Al-Moallem, predicted Israel's offensive would fail and urged the Gazans to 'be steadfast'.
'Victory is near and time is on your side,' he told Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV.
Mr Sarkozy said on Wednesday that Israel and the Palestinian Authority have accepted an Egyptian-French plan for Gaza. An Israeli government spokesman stopped short of endorsing the plan and the Palestinian Authority is yet to confirm its backing. Mr Sarkozy made no mention of Hamas in his announcement Wednesday.
Nevertheless, Mr Hamdan poured cold water on the reported acceptance by the Palestinian Authority.
'No one cares about the acceptance or rejection of the authority in Ramallah,' he told Al-Manar, referring to the West Bank city, where the Palestinian Authority is based. Officials and security forces loyal to Abbas were violently driven out of Gaza by Hamas in 2007, leaving the Palestinian Authority without any power in the coastal strip.
Hamas is insisting on an immediate halt to the Israeli attacks, opening the border crossings and ending the siege, and will not accept any initiative that does not include those, he said.
'Any proposal that does not include these bases is unacceptable, and no one should bother presenting such proposals,' Mr Hamdan told Al-Jazeera.
He said that Hamas is considering the Egyptian proposal as part of many ideas presented including Turkish, French and other Arab proposals.
Israel has said that it 'welcomes' the proposals. Spokesman Mark Regev said Israel could accept the proposal if it halts 'hostile fire' from Gaza and includes measures to prevent Hamas from rearming.
Mr Hamdan, speaking to Al-Manar, responded by saying that Israel's position on the peace plan was 'misleading' because he alleged Israel 'takes what it wants and leaves what it does not like' from proposals.
Hamdan also said Hamas rejects 'the idea of an international force,' adding that any international force coming to Gaza 'to protect Israel will be dealt with as enemy forces'. -- AP