Livni meets Muburak in Gaza talks

CAIRO, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo Thursday as violence escalated along the Gaza border, officials said.

Mubarak issued a rare invitation to Livni to meet him in the Egyptian capital rather than his usual spot for meeting Israeli officials, the Sinai resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, the BBC reported.

The meeting comes after Palestinian militants fired as many as 70 rockets and mortar rounds from Gaza into Israel's Negev region after the expiration of an Egyptian-brokered, six-month cease-fire agreement along the restive border. The militant group Hamas said the barrage was in retaliation for the killing of three of its men by Israeli forces on Tuesday, the BBC said.

Mubarak's invitation is being seen by Egyptian observers as an endorsement of Livni to become Israel's prime minister in February's general election, the broadcaster said, noting that Mubarak has not yet talked with fellow candidate Ehud Barak, the Israeli defense minister.