UN calls for immediate Gaza truce

Gaza: Israel pushed ahead with its two-week-old offensive in the Gaza Strip, ignoring a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

As bombs blasted the coastal enclave for a 14th day, senior Israeli ministers met to consider the next move. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni gave an indication the guns were unlikely to fall silent: "Israel has acted, is acting and will act only according to its considerations, the security needs of its citizens and its right to self defence."

Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on the outskirts of the city of Gaza, residents said. Elsewhere, Palestinian medics said tanks shelled a house in Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip, killing six Palestinians from the same family.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Livni met, but the vote in New York appeared to place little new pressure on them to halt attacks that have killed hundreds of Palestinians. Key ally the United States abstained, noting talks on a truce were still under way under Egyptian mediation.

The onslaught in Gaza, where many civilians including children have been killed, has solid support among Israeli voters who go to the polls in a month. Most back Olmert's stated aim of ending years of rocket fire by Hamas on Israeli towns.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, governed by Hamas's rival Fatah movement under President Mahmoud Abbas, have been enraged by the Israeli offensive, however, and Israeli forces and Abbas's police were on high alert yesterday in case of violence around weekly prayers at mosques.

The UN resolution spoke of a cease-fire that was not only "immediate" but also "durable and fully respected" - language that chimes with Israeli and US demands in those negotiations that Israel secure guarantees that its Hamas Islamist enemies will be unable to rearm by halting smuggling from Egypt.

France, which brokered a ceasefire proposal put forward by Egypt, said the resolution complemented negotiations being mediated by Cairo.

Air strikes

The Israeli air force hit at least 50 targets across the enclave, including launching pads for rockets and facilities used to manufacture rockets, an army spokesman said. Israel's military commanders appeared keen to pursue what was termed a third stage of the operation with additional ground troops being sent into the heart of Gaza's built-up areas.

Gaza's Hamas rulers sent mixed signals about the resolution. Spokesman Ayman Taha said the group did not recognise the resolution, as it had not been consulted. However, another spokes-man said Hamas was "studying" the resolution.

The resolution, pressed for by Arab countries in the face of efforts by Britain, France and the US for a more muted statement, called for arrangements to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza and for its borders to be opened. It said there should be "unimpeded provision" and distribution of aid to the territory, home to 1.5 million people, many of whom are dependent on food assistance.

Israel has said it accepts the "principles" of a cease-fire proposal by Egypt and the EU.

Hamas said it was still considering the ideas. But the militants say they will never accept Israel, whose establishment amid conflict 60 years ago dispossessed and uprooted Palestinian people.