He said after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that talks were 'at a sensitive stage' and were centred on an end to smuggling weapons to Gaza and the opening of border crossings into the Palestinian enclave.

The former British prime minister said he hoped a ceasefire could be achieved in the coming days.

His visit came as a Hamas delegation met Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in a second day of talks on an Egyptian truce proposal.

A Hamas official said the Islamist movement rejects parts of the proposal, which calls for a ceasefire allowing aid into Gaza, meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials and the resumption of Palestinian reconciliation talks.

Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli defence official, postponed a Cairo visit due to take place on Monday.

The smuggling of weapons into Gaza, which Israel says are brought through tunnels linking Egypt and the coastal strip, is one of the points of contention in the talks.

Egypt says it would be willing to accept tunnel detection equipment and training but denies weapons are smuggled in from its territories and says Israel should open the border crossings if it wishes to end smuggling.

However Egypt refuses to permanently open its Rafah border crossing with Gaza - a key Hamas demand - citing a 2005 agreement that requires the presence of EU monitors and Palestinian Authority representatives.

More than 900 Palestinians and 13 Israelis have been killed in the conflict, which started on December 27. -- AFP