Egypt talks amid Gaza bloodshed

Senior Palestinian officials are in Egypt for talks on how to end the Gaza conflict, amid ongoing violence between Israeli forces and Hamas militants.

Both sides continue to defy UN calls for a ceasefire; overnight Israel bombed new targets in Gaza, while Hamas rocket fire continued through Friday.

The UN secretary general voiced regret that a ceasefire motion was ignored.

Two weeks have passed since Israel began its offensive, which it says is intended to end rocket fire from Gaza.

Health officials in Gaza say about 800 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict started on 27 December.

Thirteen Israelis had died as of Thursday, according to the Israeli military, whose ground troops joined the air assault one week ago. Israeli newspaper reports speak of differences at the heart of the Israeli cabinet

Paul Adams
BBC diplomatic correspondent


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Aid agencies say Gaza's 1.5 million residents are in urgent need of food and medical aid.

The UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) suspended its Gaza operations on Thursday after one of its workers was killed by Israeli fire.

But on Friday it said it would resume work as soon as possible after receiving safety guarantees from Israeli troops.

Parallel talks

With both sides rejecting a call from the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire, diplomats are looking to see if talks in Egypt can yield any progress.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is due to hold talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. GAZA CRISIS BACKGROUND



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Mr Abbas has welcomed a Franco-Egyptian initiative to end the violence and deal with its underlying causes.

But Mr Abbas - who heads the secular Fatah movement, bitter rivals of Hamas - does not control Gaza, and the BBC's Arab affairs analyst, Magdi Abdelhadi, says he has little impact on the course of the conflict.

Hamas, which took control of Gaza in June 2007, has also sent delegates to Cairo.

Representatives are coming from Gaza and also from Syria for the talks, the exact timing of which is unclear.

Egypt negotiated the last ceasefire between Hamas and Israel but, our correspondent says, this conflict has strained an already difficult relationship between Cairo and Hamas.

Resolution 'unworkable'

There has been no let-up in the violence in and around Gaza, despite mounting international calls for an end to the fighting.

Early on Saturday morning, Israeli warplanes attacked unoccupied buildings and sites in Khan Younis, in Beit Lahiya and around Gaza City, Gaza residents said.


Gaza offensive - in maps

Both sides on Friday ignored the UN call for an immediate ceasefire.

Hamas said it had rejected the move because it had not been consulted on the resolution and it was not in the interests of the Palestinian people.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the continued rocket attacks on Israel showed the resolution was "unworkable".

Late on Friday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon telephoned Mr Olmert to express his disappointment that violence was continuing on the ground in disregard of the ceasefire call, his spokeswoman said.

Demonstrations have been held in many countries over the violence.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to join a protest in the British capital, London, later on Saturday, organisers say.

The Israeli ambassador to Venezuela, meanwhile, has left the country after being expelled by President Hugo Chavez because of the conflict.