SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt - The Egyptian president said Tuesday that his country was trying to secure the release of a captive Israeli soldier, while visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert lauded his host's efforts to end the "terror" from the Hamas-run Gaza.

Olmert and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak held talks at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheik, in a meeting that came on the sixth day of an Egyptian-mediated truce between Israel and Hamas.

The fragile truce has mostly held, but the Israeli military reported its first violation on Tuesday, saying that Palestinians fired a mortar into southern Israel.

No casualties or damage were reported in the attack, which took place around midnight Monday from somewhere in Gaza, and Israeli troops did not retaliate, the military said. No militant faction immediately took responsibility.

Egypt has also been trying to broker the release of the hostage Israeli soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit, held by gunmen affiliated with Gaza's Hamas rulers for two years. Mubarak said effort's for Schalit's release would continue.

"We shall discuss the question of Gilad Schalit," said Mubarak, speaking to reporters through an interpreter as he and Olmert went into a closed-door meeting. "We are making efforts for his release."

Olmert, who also said they would talk about Schalit, added that there were "many issues" on the agenda, including bilateral matters, and thanked Mubarak for Egyptian efforts to "achieve the conditions to end the terror from Gaza toward residents of Israel."

In exchange for Schalit, Hamas wants Israel to release 450 prisoners it is holding. Israel has balked at freeing most of the militants Hamas wants, saying they were involved in deadly attacks on Israelis. And it says it won't open a vital Gaza crossing without serious progress on freeing Schalit.

Arms smuggling into the coastal Gaza Strip, run by the militant Palestinian group, was also expected to be discussed by the two leaders. Israel wants assurances Egypt will do more to fight arms smuggling from Egypt into Gaza.

Olmert was quoted on Tuesday in the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily as saying that if the Gaza smuggling of weapons did not end, then Israel would consider the truce agreement violated, and "then we will be compelled to military action."

The Egyptian-brokered truce started last Thursday, with the immediate aim to end the fighting that has killed seven Israelis and more than 400 Palestinians - many of them civilians - since the Islamic Hamas militants overran Gaza a year ago.

Egypt acted as middleman for the six-month truce because Israel, like much of the international community, shuns Hamas for refusing to recognize Israel or renounce violence.

Israel on Sunday allowed dozens of trucks to deliver food, diapers and clothes to Gaza. Further increases are expected through the week if the quiet continues, and could bring Gazans badly needed respite after a year of Israeli sanctions against the Hamas regime.

For its part, Israel needs the halt in daily rocket attacks that have disrupted the lives of thousands in the border area. Critics, however, charge the truce gives Hamas a chance to rearm.

In agreeing to the truce, Israel dropped an earlier demand that Hamas free Schalit as a condition for the cease-fire. Hamas militants seized Schalit in a cross-border raid in 2006, killing two other members of his tank crew.

The Olmert-Mubarak meeting also amid other violence Tuesday, this time in the West Bank, ruled by the more moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli troops killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander in a West Bank raid early Tuesday, and the militant faction vowed reprisal.

A neighbor said a Palestinian bystander was also shot to death by troops when he opened the door of his apartment during the raid in the town of Nablus. The Israeli military spokesman's office said the man was a militant killed during a gunbattle with troops.

Islamic Jihad is party to the truce between Israel and Hamas, although that arrangement does not apply to the West Bank.

In Germany, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the operation. Fayyad, whose government is trying to negotiate a peace deal with Israel, has said continuing military operations are undermining his efforts to restore law and order in the West Bank.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused Israel of trying to "disrupt the atmosphere of calm that started five days ago" with the latest incident.

Gaza is a tiny, impoverished seaside territory of 1.4 million people that Israel evacuated in 2005 after a 38-year military occupation.

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Associated Press Writers Amy Teibel from Jerusalem and Ali Daraghmeh from the West Bank contributed to this report.