An international summit called by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the situation of the Gaza Strip started in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday.

The international conference, which was co-chaired by Mubarak and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, was attended by a number of European leaders, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa as well as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Egypt has always been trying to help reach a mutual ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement in Gaza, where some 1,245 Palestinians have been killed and some 5,300 others wounded in the past 23 days of Israeli attacks.

Egypt is also exerting its efforts to cement a truce after Israel announced a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza on late Saturday.