CAIRO, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Egypt said on Thursday that the Israeli incursion into the West Bank city of Ramallah Thursday afternoon hampers the efforts to restart the stalled Middle East peace process.

    Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak refused and condemned the Israeli incursion at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where Mubarak and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was holding a meeting to probe the stalled Mideast peace process, the Doha-based al-Jazeera TV English channel and EgyptianTV reported.

    A joint press conference by Mubarak and Olmert on the summit is expected shortly, according to the al-Jazeera report.

    The summit was the second in the resort in seven months. The two leaders held talks on the stalled Mideast peace process on June 4, 2006, nearly two months after Olmert assumed his post.

    Earlier, Egypt's official MENA news agency quoted presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad as saying that the meeting would pave the way for a multi-party summit like the one in February 2005 when Egypt hosted a four-way summit in Sharm el-Sheikh to gather Mubarak, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Jordanian King Abdullah II.

    Also high on the agenda of the Mubarak-Olmert summit was a prisoner swap deal, which involves captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, the press office said.

    Other issues to be discussed include weapons smuggling into the Palestinian territories, funds entering Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing between Gaza Strip and Egypt as well as international actions to strengthen moderate Arab states in the Middle East, according to the Israeli press office.

    On Thursday afternoon, the Israeli army stormed the West Bank city of Ramallah to arrest the alleged "wanted men", killing at least four Palestinians, al-Jazeera reported.