The UN secretary general has called on Israel and Palestinian fighters in Gaza to agree to end the violence that has resulted in over 900 deaths since Israel's onslaught on the territory began last month.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon headed to the region to press for a truce in a week of talks with leaders in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Syria.
“To both sides, I say: Just stop, now,” the UN chief told a news conference yesterday. “Too many people have died.
"There has been too much civilian suffering. Too many people, Israelis and Palestinians, live in daily fear of their lives,” Mr Ban told reporters before his departure.
Israeli forces tightened their hold on the outskirts of the city of Gaza on today and Israel's top general said "there is still work" ahead against Hamas in an 18-day-old offensive that has killed more than 900 Palestinians.
The sounds of explosions and heavy machinegun fire echoed through the city of 500,000 after Israeli tanks drew nearer but did not enter its densely populated centre, local residents said.
Medical workers said 12 Palestinian gunmen, some of them members of the Islamist Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip, were killed in morning fighting. Hamas said its forces detonated explosives beneath Israeli armor and fought with Israeli forces backed by helicopter gunships and naval fire.
Israel aircraft attacked 60 targets, including tunnels used by Gaza militants to smuggle arms across the border from Egypt, weapons-making facilities and Hamas command posts, the military said. Two rockets hit the Israeli city of Beersheba, causing no casualties.
"We have achieved a lot in hitting Hamas and its infrastructure, its rule and its armed wing, but there is still work ahead," Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, chief of staff of Israel's armed forces, told a parliamentary committee.
"We are working to deepen the blow to its military arm, reduce (Hamas) fire, strengthen (Israeli) deterrence and improve the security situation for residents of southern Israel living under the threat of (rocket) attacks," he said.
Earlier, an Israeli general speaking to reporters touring Israeli positions, said his forces were "tightening the encirclement" of the city of Gaza.
Palestinian medical officials said at least 925 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed since Israel began its offensive on December 27th. The health minister in Gaza's Hamas-run government said close to 400 of those were women and children. Thirteen Israelis - 10 Israeli soldiers and three civilians hit by mortar bombs and rockets from the Gaza Strip - have been killed.
An all-out push into densely populated areas could lead to heavy casualties on both sides, a politically risky outcome for Israel's government less than a month before a national election.
Israeli cabinet minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel was "very, very close" to achieving the goals of the campaign, the deadliest it has waged against Palestinians in decades.
"I assume that in the coming week, the situation will be assessed and a decision made at a cabinet meeting on whether and how to continue the operations," Mr Mofaz told Army Radio.
REUTERS