CAIRO - SENIOR Hamas leader Mussa Abu Marzuk said on Tuesday there is 'a chance' that his Palestinian Islamist movement at war with Israel will accept a modified Egyptian ceasefire plan for Gaza.

'There is still a chance that we will accept the Egyptian plan,' provided the 'substantial observations' of Hamas are taken into account, Mr Abu Marzuk, the Damascus-based deputy head of its politburo, told Al-Jazeera television.

'If the initiative is accepted, it will be in accordance with the position set out by Hamas at the start, namely an Israeli withdrawal, a ceasefire and the opening of the crossing points' between Gaza and Israel, he said.

His comments came as a Hamas delegation held a fresh round of talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Cairo.

A senior Egyptian diplomat told AFP, requesting anonymity, that negotiators wanted the Islamists to sign up 'now' in the hope of announcing a ceasefire by the end of the week.

'We're working seriously with Hamas, we need to end the vagueness and they need to say 'yes', now, to our plan,' he said.

'Egypt hopes that the Israeli war machine can be stopped by the end of the week and the massacres can be ended,' with more than 900 Palestinians dead and 4,000 already wounded in the conflict which erupted on December 27, he said.

The plan calls for a ceasefire for a pre-determined time, securing tunnels which Israel says are used to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Gaza, opening the embattled enclave's borders and restarting Palestinian reconciliation talks. -- AFP