Israeli forces squeeze Gaza city

In Cairo, a Hamas delegation resumed talks with Egypt on a cease-fire plan proposed by the Arab country, which borders the Gaza Strip and Israel and has made peace with the Jewish state.

Israeli aircraft attacked 60 targets, including tunnels used by militants to smuggle arms across the border from Egypt. Two rockets hit Beersheba in southern Israel, causing no casualties.

"We have achieved a lot in hitting Hamas and its infrastructure, its rule and its armed wing, but there is still work ahead," Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, chief of staff of Israel's armed forces, told a parliamentary committee.

Ashkenazi said Israeli aircraft had carried out more than 2,300 strikes since the offensive -- Israel's deadliest against Palestinians in decades -- was launched on December 27.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was heading to the region for a week of talks with leaders in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Syria aimed at ending the bloodshed.

"My message is simple, direct, and to the point: the fighting must stop. To both sides, I say: Just stop now," Ban told reporters before his departure.

Human rights groups have reported shortages of vital supplies, including water, in the Gaza Strip. A fuel shortage has brought frequent power blackouts.

Israel has permitted almost daily truck shipments of food and medicine. But in a new report, Human Rights Watch said Israel's daily 3-hour break in attacks to facilitate the supply of humanitarian aid to Gazans was "woefully insufficient."

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