Gaza - Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, emerged for the first time in public Saturday since the beginning of Israeli onslaught in December, heading a Hamas delegation for ceasefire talks in Cairo.

The four-person delegation crossed into Egypt this afternoon through Rafah terminal on Gaza-Egypt border.

Earlier on the day, the Hamas movement said talks to broker a ceasefire agreement with Israel had not failed, adding it will send a delegation to Egypt to talk more on the issue.

Cairo - Palestinian Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said on Tuesday that his group will do everything it can to ensure the success of the Palestinian national dialogue to be held in Cairo on November 7-9.

"We will work hard to ensure the success of the dialogue and the reconciliation," Zahar said when he arrived in Cairo from Damascus late Tuesday.

Cairo - Palestinian Islamists who met with Egyptian mediators have agreed to form a government of "national reconciliation," not one of national unity, Hamas leader Mahmoud al- Zahar said Thursday.

The government of national reconciliation "might include members of other Palestinian factions along with Hamas and Fatah," Zahar told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

He declined to explain how the powers of both Hamas and Fatah would be divided in such a government. "We do not want to go into those details now."

Cairo  - The Palestinian militant group Hamas is to give its response Thursday to a proposed truce with Israel mediated by Egypt as other factions insist on a mutual ceasefire, according to Palestinian sources.

A Hamas delegation led by Mahmoud Zahar is expected to present the group's response in a meeting with Egypt's intelligence chief, General Omar Sulayman, Thursday evening in Cairo.

Hamas is widely expected to accept a proposed truce with Israel, which would take effect only in the Gaza Strip, thus dropping a demand that the ceasefire be extended to the West Bank as well, according to Palestinian sources close to the group.