Israel's main ally, the United States, joined Europe in urging it on Wednesday to accept an Egyptian-proposed cease-fire and curtail its 12-day-old offensive in Gaza, where fighting resumed after a three-hour truce. Skip related content
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As its assault continued after a three-hour pause to let aid agencies distribute food, Israel's officials said they accepted the "principles" of the proposal, notably denying Hamas the ability to rearm through smuggling tunnels from Egypt. But they said the details needed to be worked out.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni by telephone, as the United Nations Security Council weighed action to end Israel's attacks on the Islamist group, in which 653 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed according to medical officials.
"We are trying to move forward," said a senior U.S. official travelling with Rice to New York where she planned to push the staged plan for a truce between Israel and Hamas.
The plan calls for a halt to rocket attacks on Israel that Israel said triggered its offensive on December 27, the opening of border crossings into the coastal territory -- a key demand of Hamas -- and an end to weapons comings into Gaza.
Hamas also confirmed it was discussing the proposals, partly brokered by France, but the violence continued. The latest victims were a Palestinian man and three children killed in an Israeli air strike on a car in the north of the Gaza Strip.
U.S. president-elect Barack Obama also jacked up pressure on Israel to end the campaign by saying after a long silence he was "deeply concerned" and would "engage immediately" on the Middle East situation once he takes office on January 20.
Obama told a news conference he would tackle "not only the short term situation but building a process whereby we can achieve a more lasting peace in the region."
Israeli analysts believe Israel faces a deadline to wrap up its Gaza campaign by the time Obama is sworn in, or risk a possible strain in ties with Washington at the outset of the new administration.
Cease-fire "URGENTLY NEEDED"
The Bush administration said a cease-fire was urgently needed but the talks were complicated by the number of parties involved. "We are working to do it as fast as we possibly can," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in Washington.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said: "I have seen the first glimmerings of the possibility of a cease-fire." He added: "It's far too early to say we can get a breakthrough."
Israeli ministers met to consider the plan, a day after Israeli shelling killed 42 Palestinians at a U.N.-run Gaza school. Officials said they viewed "positively" talks with Cairo over a wider cease-fire plan promoted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
"We welcome the French-Egyptian initiative. We want to see it succeed," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
A top Israeli defence official, Amos Gilad, would head to Cairo on Thursday for further talks with Egypt on the plan, Israeli political sources said. A senior official said Israel had agreed on the principles of the Egyptian plan.
Israel wants a cease-fire deal to include a specialised international force to search out and destroy tunnels along the border between Gaza and Egypt to prevent Hamas from rearming and firing more rockets at Israeli towns.
Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief said the EU was prepared to help Egypt prevent arms smuggling along its border with Gaza: "Today we have the will, today we have the technology, today we have the means ... to prevent that smuggling of weapons takes place," Solana said by telephone.
The Dutch and Danish governments proposed an EU force.
A Palestinian official said Gaza's Hamas rulers had been briefed by Mubarak and were debating the proposal.
Hamas seized control in Gaza in fighting with President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement in 2007. It demands an end to Israel's blockade of the coastal enclave, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, as a condition for halting rocket fire.
"Aggression must stop, the siege must be lifted and the Zionist forces must pull out, and then we can talk about other issues, including calm and rockets," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.
Israel's security cabinet considered but, citing Egyptian and French cease-fire efforts, postponed a deeper push into the Gaza Strips's cities and refugee camps.
PALESTINIANS STOCK UP ON FOOD
Combat in narrow alleyways and streets, leading to heavy casualties on both sides, would hold political risks for Israel's leaders ahead of a February 10 parliamentary election.
Palestinians in Gaza ventured outside to shop for food during the three-hour lull in fighting Israel said it would now implement daily to facilitate a flow of aid to the territory.
"Food and milk -- what else can we hope for in three hours," said Ahmed Abu Kamel, a father of six who lives near the city of Gaza. "We want it all to end."
Violence resumed soon after the 1-4 p.m. truce expired and Palestinians returned to the precarious safety of their homes after stocking up on food and visiting family and friends.
In the ensuing fighting, at least 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks, medical workers said. At least 15 Hamas rockets hit southern Israel, causing no casualties.
Israel says it killed dozens of militants this week in the offensive it launched on December 27 with the declared aim of silencing rocket salvoes.
According to U.N. figures, more than a quarter of the Palestinian dead are civilians. A Palestinian human rights group put the figure at 40 percent. Seven Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed.
The United Nations called for an inquiry into Israel's deadly shelling of the U.N. school in Jabalya refugee camp on Tuesday. Israel said Hamas militants at the school had fired rockets. The U.N. said there were no gunmen on the premises.
An aide said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a bitter foe of Hamas, ordered officials to look into taking Israel to international courts over the deaths at the school.
(Additional reporting by Dan Williams and Adam Entous in Jerusalem; Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
