A fire at a Gaza hospital burnt late into the night

Diplomatic activity has intensified in the Middle East and the US over the terms of a possible ceasefire to halt Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.

Israeli ministers had late-night talks on Egypt's latest mediation bid and, while no decision was taken, an Israeli envoy is due back in Cairo shortly.



Hamas is reported to be offering a year-long truce if Israel withdraws from Gaza and lifts its blockade.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has gone to Washington for talks.

She is due to discuss how to stop Hamas smuggling arms into Gaza, a key Israeli demand.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says he is optimistic about a ceasefire deal being reached but added that it might take a few days yet.

Israeli military officials said Israel attacked about 40 targets in the Gaza Strip overnight - including smuggling tunnels, launching points, weaponry storages, two Hamas stations and a militant's training camp.

Casualties in a hospital in Gaza City had to flee the building overnight as a fire reportedly caused by Israeli shelling engulfed the building.


Health officials in Hamas-controlled Gaza say at least 1,105 Palestinians have been killed and 5,100 wounded since Israel launched an operation on 27 December to end rocket attacks on its territory.


See map of Gaza City and area
On Thursday, an Israeli air strike on Gaza City killed one of the Strip's top Hamas leaders, Said Siyam.

Thirteen Israelis - including three civilians - have died, while 233 soldiers have been wounded, the Israeli army says.

Last-minute deal

Israeli envoy Amos Gilad has been ordered to return to Cairo on Friday after arriving back to brief Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other officials on his daylong talks with Egyptian officials there.

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He discussed a possible ceasefire with the Egyptians on Thursday while Hamas outlined its own proposals in Cairo.

Mussa Abu Marzuk, the Damascus-based deputy head of Hamas's powerful politburo, confirmed for AFP news agency that Hamas was offering a one-year, renewable truce.

"We are waiting for an answer from Egypt after they talk to Amos Gilad," he added.

Tzipi Livni's visit to Washington is meant to formalise an agreement with the US to help prevent Hamas smuggling in arms, the BBC's Kim Ghattas reports from the US capital.

The accord would supplement any ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas in Cairo.

Diplomats say the accord would deal with the issue of arms-smuggling from a broader perspective, aiming to stop weapons from even reaching the border between Egypt and Gaza.

It is a last-minute deal crafted in the final hours of an outgoing Bush administration but one that could give the US a prominent and lasting role in the truce, if it is achieved, our correspondent says.

'Patients flee'

Israeli troops and tanks moved closer to the heart of Gaza City on Thursday, engaging in fierce gun battles with Hamas fighters.

Reports from the al-Quds hospital in the city's Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood say that scores of patients were evacuated overnight to escape a blaze.

Patients wounded in the fighting could be seen struggling to get out of their beds only to head out into an icy night pierced by gunfire, an AFP photographer reports.

At least three babies in incubators and three people on life support were wheeled out into the flame-lit streets, the photographer added.

Earlier on Thursday, Israeli shells set alight part of the local headquarters of the UN relief agency Unrwa.

Mr Olmert apologised but said troops had been responding to shots from gunmen at the compound.

Said Siyam, who controlled thousands of Hamas security troops in Gaza, died along with his son, brother and two other Hamas officials when his brother's house was bombed.

Speaking after talks in Jerusalem with Israeli leaders, Ban Ki-moon said he hoped a ceasefire was possible.

"I am optimistic now because I think there is no other choice for us," he told the BBC.

"This kind of agreement can be done now and I think now there is good progress in Egypt."