Pressure grows for Gaza ceasefire
 Israel says it is defending itself against terrorists |
Pressure is building on Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal backed by the UN and the US to end fighting in Gaza.
The plan, proposed by Egypt and France, calls for an immediate ceasefire to allow more aid into the Gaza Strip, and talks with Israel on border security.
It follows one of the deadliest days since the offensive began, with more than 130 people killed on Tuesday.
Overnight, Israeli forces launched 40 fresh air strikes in Gaza.
The Israeli army has reported no missile launches from Gaza into Israel on Wednesday.
The Israeli government says it has agreed to open a humanitarian corridor into the Gaza Strip, to allow vital supplies into specified areas.
John Ging, of the UN relief agency, Unwra, said the Israeli offer was an improvement, but the priority was a cessation of the current violence.
Civilian deaths
Israel's security cabinet is meeting on Wednesday to consider the proposals from France and Egypt, but ministers are also expected to discuss expanding operations.
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Israel wants to stop Hamas smuggling weapons into Gaza via Egypt, while Hamas says any ceasefire deal must include an end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.
More than 600 Palestinians are now believed to have been killed since Israel began its offensive 11 days ago.
Palestinian health ministry officials say at least 195 children are among those killed.
An Israeli attack on Tuesday on a UN-run school building, being used to shelter people who had fled their homes, killed 30 people and injured 55, UN officials say.
The Israeli military said its soldiers had come under mortar fire from Hamas militants inside the school. A spokesman for Hamas denied there had been any hostile fire coming from the school.
Israel has lost seven soldiers on the ground. Four people within Israel have been killed by rockets.
At least five hit southern Israel on Tuesday, one of them injuring a baby.
Support for truce
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the French-Egyptian plan a "ceasefire that can endure and that can bring real security".
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, did not say whether Israel would accept the proposal but said it would take it "very, very seriously".
| GAZA CRISIS BACKGROUND  |
The contours of a possible diplomatic agreement are in place, the BBC's Laura Trevelyan reports from the UN.
However, if Israel continues to control the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and can choose to stop it at any time this seems unlikely to command the support of Hamas, our correspondent notes.
Andrew Whitley of the UN relief agency Unwra told the BBC that any relief in the conditions of the people of Gaza could only be a good thing.
"People have been weakened by 18 months of blockade and siege. They've been getting very little food, electricity or heat for a long time, and so they are in a very weakened condition," he said.
Casualty claims in Gaza cannot be independently verified. Israel is refusing to let international journalists into Gaza, despite a supreme court ruling to allow a limited number of reporters to enter the territory.
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