Ceasefire calls

Ceasefire calls

The escalation in fighting comes as international pressure for a ceasefire is growing.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is due to attend a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, along with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, France and the UK, in an attempt to put pressure on the Security Council to act decisively.


Diplomatic efforts to try to end the violence have been gathering pace

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he had asked his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, to help convince Hamas to co-operate with efforts to end the Israeli offensive. Syria is regarded as a main backer of Hamas.

"I don't have any doubt that President Bashar Assad will throw all his weight to convince every one to return to reason," Mr Sarkozy said after talks in Damascus.

Meanwhile, a Hamas delegation has arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian security officials. Egypt has brokered past truces between Hamas and Israel.

The envoy of the Middle East Quartet, Tony Blair, said after talks with Israeli leaders that he believed there could be an immediate ceasefire if the supply of arms to Hamas through tunnels from Egypt was cut off.

Hamas has said that Israeli attacks on Gaza must stop and the crossings into the territory, which Israel controls, must be fully opened, before it agrees to a ceasefire.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday that any ceasefire would have to include provisions to prevent Hamas from re-arming in order to prevent future rocket attacks on Israel.