Egypt's UN Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz told reporters that 'representatives from all sides' planned to go to Cairo to discuss the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

He said the technical delegations would each meet with Egyptian officials to discuss an Egyptian-French initiative to end the fighting in Gaza, but that the parties would not necessarily sit down in the same room together.

Details of the plan aren't clear, but the initiative calls for a limited cease-fire in the Israeli-Hamas fighting to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit confirmed that the Islamic militant group Hamas had been invited, but 'if they come' their representatives will not meet in the same room as Israel's.

'There will be an Israeli team coming to Cairo. I will not go beyond,' Mr Gheit said. It will be, he added, 'a meeting between the Egyptians and Israelis, but not between the Israelis and Hamas.'

Mr Gheit said he expected the Israelis on Thursday, but was not certain when the Hamas delegation would arrive in Cairo.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Israel and the moderate Palestinian Authority - Hamas' rival - accepted the cease-fire plan though it is not a direct party to the conflict.

Mr Abdelaziz said that 'Egypt is receiving technical delegations from all parties. I understand some of them are arriving today, some of them are arriving tomorrow,' he said. 'The issue here is that for anything to start, there has to be some positive move. And the positive move is the cease-fire.'

Mr Abdelaziz said the talks will shape whether the UN Security Council agrees to a council resolution, as Arab nations want, or a lesser statement issued by the 15-nation council's president, as the US, Britain and France have proposed.

'We cannot just limit our actions to adopting papers, without having those papers have an action on the ground,' he said.

He said Egypt also 'would call on the United States to put more pressure on Israel' to accept the cease-fire plan.

Officials in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office refused to comment on the report. Israel regards Hamas as a terror group and refuses to negotiate with it.

They referred to a statement Olmert's office issued earlier on Wednesday thanking Egypt and France for their truce efforts and welcoming a dialogue between Egyptian and Israeli officials.

A second statement said a meeting has been arranged between Israeli and Egyptian officials 'with the hope that it will lead to understandings on the issue of (Hamas) arms smuggling and will produce conditions that would make it possible to wind up the military operation.'

Meetings with Palestinians were not mentioned in either statement. -- AP