Israel pounds Gaza again as U.S. pushes truce

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft and tanks pounded the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and troops battled Palestinian guerrillas on the ground as U.S. backing for a proposed truce raised expectations of an end to the 12-day-old offensive.

"We believe a cease-fire is necessary," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, adding that she was pressing Israel to move forward with an Egyptian proposal backed by Europeans.

Israel's assault resumed fiercely after a first, brief pause to help Gaza's 1.5 million people stock up on supplies.

But with both the outgoing administration of George W. Bush and the hitherto silent President-elect Barack Obama speaking out on the need for peace, officials said Israel had agreed with the "principles" of the Egyptian deal and would send an envoy to Cairo to discuss details of how it might be put into practice.

That may yet take time.

Rice echoed Israel's concerns that a deal achieve its goal of stopping the Hamas Islamists who rule Gaza from hitting Israel with rockets: "It has to be a cease-fire that will not allow a return to the status quo," she said.

However, Israeli ministers put off a decision on whether to launch a new phase of the war by storming Gaza's urban centres.

Hamas said it was looking at the Egyptian plan, brokered by France, which addresses Israel's demand that Hamas be prevented from rearming through smuggling tunnels from Egypt and also addresses Hamas's call for an end to Israel's wider embargo.