Gaza truce efforts stepped up

Israeli leaders on Tuesday are discussing an Egyptian plan to an end to violence reports said, before a mission by the UN chief visits Israel as the toll from Israeli raids on Gaza increased to over 100.

Efforts are also underway in Cairo for reaching a truce as the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon was to meet Arab league Chief Nabil al-Arabi, and the travel on to Israel.

Egypt has been trying to broker a ceasefire with the help of Qatar and Turkey.

On Tuesday the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and various Arab foreign ministers are also expected to visit Gaza on Tuesday.

The early morning talks in Israel came as the UN Security Council hit deadlock on a statement on the conflict with the United States saying it opposed any action that undermines efforts to reach a ceasefire.

Ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's inner circle, the Forum of Nine held lengthy talks over whether to agree to a ceasefire or expand the air and naval campaign into a ground operation, but no decision was announced.

The content of the Egyptian plan is not known, but both Israel and Hamas have presented conditions.

With Ban in Cairo pushing for a ceasefire, Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader said his movement was committed to efforts to secure a truce, but insisted that Israel must lift its six-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has left the Gaza strip deprived of a much needed economic boost.

Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip have continued for a seventh day, despite calls for a truce, with the overall death toll reaching 111, according to medical sources.

In the latest Israeli airstrike early on Tuesday morning, at least four people were injured when F-16 fighter jets hit the Islamic National Bank in Gaza City, which is located in a residential area.

In other violence on Monday, two boys, aged two and four, and their parents were killed in Jabaliya refugee camp late in the evening. More than a dozen people were injured, mostly women and children.

During the afternoon, one person was killed and another two wounded when a missile struck a car just north of Gaza City.

Elsewhere, a missile hit a motorcycle east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, killing two men and critically wounding a child who was with them, Gaza's ambulance service said.

Earlier in the day, two women and a child were among four killed in a raid on Gaza City's eastern Zeitun neighbourhood.

The Israeli military has struck more than 1,350 targets in Gaza since attacks began on Wednesday, Israel says it launched the operation to deter Palestinian fighters from launching rockets into its territory.

Since then, 640 rockets have hit Israel while more than 300 others have been intercepted by Israel's anti-missile system, the Iron Dome, according to the Israeli army. Three Israeli civilians died on Thursday in a rocket strike.

The Israeli military said that 67 rockets had been fired at the country on Monday, and that three Israelis had been wounded.

Many residents of southern Israel have left the area and schools have been closed since the start of the crisis. More than 30 people were killed in Gaza on Monday.

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon is set to meet Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr, and President Mohamed Morsi and Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi.

He will then go to Jerusalem to see Israeli leaders but has no plan to go to Gaza.

Arabi is also due in Gaza on Tuesday, accompanied Davutoglu and several Arab top diplomats, in the latest in a series of visits that have eased the long diplomatic isolation of the territory's Hamas rulers.

Israel has its own demands, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman insisting "the first and absolute condition for a truce is stopping all fire from Gaza."

Hamas is also understood to be seeking guarantees Israel will stop its targeted killings, like the one that killed a top military commander on Wednesday, sparking the current hostilities.

Meshaal, the Hamas leader, said on Monday his group was committed to efforts to secure a truce, but insisted that Israel must lift its six-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.

"We are not against a calming, but we want our demands ... to end the thuggery, to end the aggression and to lift the blockade," he said, adding that Hamas would reject any Israeli preconditions for a ceasefire because "they started the aggression".