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Political sources said a decision could come by evening. The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may declare a halt to the three-week-old offensive without concluding any deal with Hamas-led militants who control Gaza, they said.
After a relatively quiet night of only sporadic gunfire, the sound of jet aircraft at about 0300 GMT was followed by several heavy explosions flashing in the night from unseen targets, mainly to the south of the city of Gaza.
More than 1,150 Palestinians have been killed and 5,100 wounded since Israel began attacking Gaza with an air blitz on Dec. 27, then moved in with ground forces a week later.
A large majority of the dead were civilians.
Ten Israeli soldiers have died in the fighting and three Israeli civilians have been killed by rockets fired from Gaza.
Olmert called a Saturday night security cabinet session to decide on a ceasefire, which could come less than 72 hours before the inauguration of Barack Obama as U.S. president.
Some say Israel wants to avoid casting a cloud on a historic day for its main ally. Israeli public support for the offensive has been almost total, but international calls for an end to the bloodshed are mounting.
An overwhelming majority of states at the UN General Assembly called on Friday for an immediate, durable ceasefire. Diplomats said it presented a cohesive, moderate world viewpoint that would strengthen Egyptian mediating efforts.
The unending pain of Gaza civilians is also harrowing.
Israeli television on Friday broadcast desperate cries for help from a Palestinian doctor whose his children had just been killed in an Israeli attack.
"I want to know why they were killed, who gave the order?" Izz el-Deen Aboul Aishhe cried in a voice shaking with emotion.
Troops later helped the family's survivors.
No need for deal?
Dismissing notions of "proportionate" response, Israel struck on Dec. 27 with a "shock and awe" night of bombing and has used devastating firepower every day since to stop militants firing rockets at Israel civilians in southern cities.
The rockets have tapered off but not ceased. On Friday at least 15 rockets and mortar shells hit Israel, wounding five.
Israeli strikes on Friday killed 30 Gazans, including an Islamic Jihad commander in southern Khan Younis. Israeli tank fire hit the home of a Hamas militant, killing his wife and five children. The militant was not there at the time.
About 45,000 Gazans fleeing the fighting have taken refuge in U.N.-run schools in the enclave, UN officials said.
Israeli sources said Egyptian mediation with Hamas was not progressing. But Israel may believe it has now "taught Hamas a lesson", as Olmert described its aim, and prefer to simply stop rather than give Hamas the satisfaction of a negotiated deal.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, hoping to replace Olmert as prime minister when Israel votes on Feb. 11, said an on Friday that an end to the war "doesn't have to be in agreement with Hamas but rather in arrangements against Hamas".
Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Friday called Israel's ceasefire terms unacceptable. Demanding an end to the punitive Israeli blockade of Gaza, he said Hamas would fight on.
Hamas negotiators, however, were due to meet the Egyptians on Saturday to discuss Israel's response to their conditions.
Hamas offers a one-year, renewable truce on condition that all Israeli forces withdraw within a week and that all the border crossings with Israel and Egypt are opened.
Except for limited humanitarian supplies, the crossings have been all but closed by an Israeli-led blockade since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Palestinian factions it had defeated in a parliamentary election the previous year.
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Is it true that Israel used banned weapons like DIME -Dense Inert Metallic Explosives in Gaza ? There are also reports of usage of Flachette bombs , Anemone bombs, Chemical bombs and even Nuclear spent fuel bombs.Why are these details not published in Indian Express ?
Yes, just halted. Of-course, it was a political satire of rubbish Ehud and his party to get mileage in forthcoming election. Yes, they brutally killed hundreds of our mothers, sisters, and infants. Thousands are seriously injured and even hit on UN shelters. Yes, Israel is the world Nr. 1 enemy of human in world. They said they are focusing on Hamas but hitting on innocent infants. Then what happened finally, Hamas is still capable to throw rockets to Israel. If they have other more weapons, the roads may scattered with dead body of Israel soldiers.
This is an absolute failure of Israel in uprooting the Hamas, upon whom it declared war. Israel has always been violating the international regulations and has no respect to the UN resolutions. This is only because of the undue support it is backed with from United States.Israel should make this clear that it cannot uproot the democratically won Hamas, even though it has the silent clearance of entire Arab world to go on with their inhuman cold blooded slaughtering in Gaza.
Stop ur shits. U are another enemy of world peace. The meaning of Islam is peace. Spend some time to study about Islam. goodluck.
I support Israel, Hamas and his leaders must be shot to dead. Islam in demise. Shalom Israel
Is there a government in Palestine? If it cannot control the goons called Hamas, what is the use of that government? The U.N. should throw it out from its membership and convert it into a mandated territory as done after the WW I. All the countries which blame Israel are blaming it for retaliation. India is the worst culprit in this sense. While we cry hoarse about the infiltration of militants from our `secular'( Muslim should not be used for the terrorists other than Hindus)neighbours, we have no scruples in advising Israel for doing what our para military and military is doing to the infiltrating terrorists.Hams should be rooted out like the LTTE. Only thing is there is a govt. in Sri Lanka which is doing it successfully. Palestine has a weak and corrupt set up which is helpless and unwilling to maintain law and order.