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Israel poised for ceasefire vote Gaza strikes ahead of truce vote
(about 3 hours later)
Israeli ministers are due to vote on a unilateral ceasefire proposal, amid signs of diplomatic movement on the three-week conflict in Gaza. Israel's military has carried out 50 air strikes in Gaza overnight as its cabinet prepares to vote on a proposal for a unilateral ceasefire.
Government spokesman Mark Regev said he thought Israel may have achieved enough to allow a ceasefire. Palestinians say a tank shell hit a UN school in northern Gaza, killing at least two people sheltering there. Israel says it is checking the report.
Israel and the US signed a deal to halt the smuggling of arms into Gaza as Cairo continued its mediation efforts. The UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) said Israel's actions in Gaza should be investigated as possible war crimes.
Israeli warplanes bombed Gaza again just before dawn, with heavy explosions south of Gaza City. Hamas said it would ignore any truce if its conditions were not met.
A spokesman for the UN relief agency UNRWA said two people were killed in an attack on or close to a UN school in northern Gaza. The Israeli army has not yet commented. A spokesman for the militant group, Osama Abu Hemdan, told AFP news agency: "As long as it [the Israeli military] remains in Gaza, resistance and confrontation will continue."
A BBC correspondent who managed to enter southern Gaza on Friday saw evidence of much collateral damage from recent bombing. Israeli warplanes renewed bombing raids on Gaza just before dawn on Saturday, with heavy explosions south of Gaza City.
Christian Fraser says the situation for Palestinian families there is tough, with food and electricity supplies limited and no running water. class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7834419.stm">BBC reporter reaches Rafah class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7834251.stm">Bowen diary: Truce hopes class="" href="/1/hi/in_pictures/7833997.stm">In pictures: Ongoing Gaza assault class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7832813.stm">Voices from Gaza City
Movement towards a negotiated solution has been slow but there are signs that significant progress has been made during the past 24 hours, the BBC's Adam Mynott reports. United Nations officials say two children, aged five and seven, were killed when Israeli tank fire hit a UN school where hundreds had taken shelter in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.
Since Israel launched its offensive on 27 December to end rocket attacks against its people, nearly 1,170 people are thought to have been killed. A spokesman for Unrwa in Gaza, Chris Gunness, said: "There has to be an investigation to determine whether a war crime has been committed."
Hamas talks This is not the first time the UN has talked about war crimes in Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister's office said that as a result of "significant progress" at talks between Israeli officials and Egypt's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, a draft unilateral ceasefire would be discussed by Mr Olmert and his Defence Minister, Ehud Barak. Earlier this month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said some Israeli actions reported in Gaza might warrant prosecutions for war crimes.
Despite all the destruction in Gaza, I assure you we will not accept Israel's conditions for a ceasefire Khaled Meshaal leading Hamas figure class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7834419.stm">BBC reporter reaches Rafah class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7834251.stm">Bowen diary: Truce hopes class="" href="/1/hi/in_pictures/7833997.stm">In pictures: Ongoing Gaza assault class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7832813.stm">Voices from Gaza City Israel's security cabinet will vote on Saturday evening on whether to declare a ceasefire, after its government said it thought "significant progress" had been made at talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo.
"Following the discussion, the cabinet for national security will be convened on Saturday evening to decide whether it should be adopted," it added. Under the Egyptian proposal, fighting would stop immediately for 10 days and Israeli forces would remain in Gaza while the border crossings into the territory would remain closed.
Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in Washington that Israel would have to suspend any ceasefire if Hamas continued to fire rockets. Rocket attacks
Signing the deal on preventing arms-smuggling, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she hoped it would ensure Gaza could "never again be used as a launch pad" for attacks on Israel. For its part, Egypt would, with international help, try to shut down weapons smuggling routes on its boundary with Gaza and discussions on opening the crossings would take place at a later date.
Mr Regev told BBC News that the foundations for announcing a ceasefire seemed to be in place. Hamas insists any ceasefire must involve Israeli troops withdrawing from Gaza and an immediate lifting of the Israeli blockade. Hamas officials are expected to attend further talks on Saturday in Cairo.
"I think we're seeing the pieces of the puzzle fall into place and we see the foundations for what we see as a long-term calm in the south, based on cessation of fire and, of course, absence of all arms smuggling to Hamas," he said. Israel is still coming under rocket attack from militants in Gaza Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev earlier told the BBC he thought Israel may have achieved enough in its three-week offensive to allow a ceasefire.
Hamas leaders have returned to Cairo for further talks. "I think we're seeing the pieces of the puzzle fall into place and we see the foundations for what we see as a long-term calm in the south," he said.
They insist that a ceasefire agreement is built on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza within a week and an immediate end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip. But on Friday Palestinian militants in Gaza reportedly fired more than 15 rockets at southern Israel, leaving five Israelis wounded.
Ban Ki-Moon: 'The fighting must stop' Israel's main objective in Operation Cast Lead is to end Gaza militants' ability to fire rockets at Israel and stop them smuggling through tunnels from Egypt.
One Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, has said the group will not accept Israeli conditions for a ceasefire. US-Israel deal
"Despite all the destruction in Gaza, I assure you we will not accept Israel's conditions for a ceasefire," he said in Doha, Qatar. On Friday, Israel and the US signed a deal in Washington that calls for expanded intelligence co-operation between their two countries to prevent Hamas smuggling arms into Gaza if a ceasefire is implemented.
Western diplomats say a pact underpinning any truce may be signed in Cairo this weekend between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Under the agreement, the US will provide detection and surveillance equipment, as well as logistical help and training to Israel, Egypt and other nations for monitoring Gaza's land and sea boundaries.
The UN General Assembly in New York has overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for an immediate and durable ceasefire in Gaza, leading to a full withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Earlier, after meeting Palestinian Authority leaders in the West Bank, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel to end the fighting immediately.
New air strikes
Israeli military officials say 40 air strikes on Gaza on Thursday night targeted smuggling tunnels, rocket launching points, weapons stores and a militants' training camp.
GAZA CRISIS BACKGROUND In depth: Gaza conflictQ&A: Gaza conflictWho are Hamas?Middle East conflict: History in mapsGAZA CRISIS BACKGROUND In depth: Gaza conflictQ&A: Gaza conflictWho are Hamas?Middle East conflict: History in maps
The bodies of 23 people were later recovered in the Tel al-Hawa district of Gaza City, medics said. In the US capital, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Israel would have to suspend any ceasefire if Hamas continued to fire rockets.
Militants fired about 10 rockets into Israel on Friday, causing no injuries, the Israeli army said. The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza has told the BBC that 1,193 people have been killed, including 410 children and 108 women since the conflict began on 27 December.
Health officials in Hamas-controlled Gaza say at least 1,155 Palestinians have been killed and 5,015 wounded since Israel launched its offensive. There were 5,300 people wounded, including 1,600 children, the ministry said.
Thirteen Israelis - three of them civilians - have died, while 233 soldiers have been wounded, Israeli officials say. Thirteen Israelis, mostly soldiers, have been killed during the campaign.
A teenager reportedly died during anti-Israeli protests in the West Bank on Friday. On Friday night, the UN General Assembly in New York overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for an immediate and durable ceasefire in Gaza, leading to a full withdrawal of Israeli troops.
The BBC's Christian Fraser in southern Gaza says the situation for Palestinian families there is tough, with food and electricity supplies limited and no running water.
He says in the skies above can be heard the scream of F-16 jets circling for their next targets.