Talks aimed at achieving a truce between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza are due to resume in Egypt as the conflict enters its seventh day.
Israeli forces launched about 100 air strikes overnight, targeting rocket launching facilities and tunnels.
Militant rockets hit Israeli cities on Tuesday; no casualties were reported.
Hamas officials say 110 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli raids since Wednesday. Three Israelis have died as a result of rocket attacks.
Israeli leaders met late into the night to discuss Egyptian truce proposals, as officials are due to restart talks in Cairo.
Israeli troops are massed along the border, raising fears of a ground offensive similar to that of 2008-09.
However, Israeli officials say that any possible ground invasion of Gaza has been put on hold while the ceasefire talks continue.
A spokesman told the BBC that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had telephoned US President Barack Obama.
“Israel wants talks to succeed but we’re prepared to go into Gaza,” the spokesman said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due in Israel for crisis talks.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is debating a statement calling on both parties to stop attacks and address humanitarian needs in Gaza.
BBC correspondents in Gaza said it had been a relatively quiet night, although the Israeli military said it had carried out about 100 strikes mainly on smuggling tunnels and underground rocket-launching facilities.
A father and his two sons – thought to be two and four – were killed overnight, Hamas health ministry officials said.
On Monday, among those killed was a commander of the Islamic Jihad militant group who died in an air strike on a Gaza City tower block housing media organisations.
Overnight, air-raid sirens sounded in parts of southern Israel including Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat and Sderot. Some rocket and mortar fire was heard although no casualties were reported, Israel Radio said.
Early on Tuesday, some rockets managed to get through Israel‘s Iron Dome interception system, Israeli officials added.
One landed on a parked bus in Beersheba and a house in Ofakim. There were no casualties.
The Israeli army said 67 rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israel during the day.
GAZA VISIT
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met Arab League Chief Nabil al-Arabi in Cairo on Tuesday.
“I’m here to appeal personally for an end to the violence and to offer my ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire. I’m also here to offer my heartfelt condolences to many civilians, especially to families of victims who were killed,” Mr Ban told a joint news conference.
He is due to travel to Israel later on Tuesday. Mr Ban warned against a ground operation in Gaza.
“Further escalating the situation will put the entire region at risk,” he said.
Egypt has been trying to broker a ceasefire with the help of Qatar and Turkey.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Arab foreign ministers are expected to visit Gaza on Tuesday.
Israel‘s nine most senior ministers ended their talks in the early hours but there was no word on their reaction to the latest Egyptian proposals.
The content of the Egyptian plan is not known, but both Israel and Hamas have presented conditions.
Israel‘s include no hostile fire of any kind from Gaza and international efforts to prevent Hamas from rearming, while Hamas is demanding an end to the blockade on Gaza and “Israel‘s assassinations”.
The BBC’s Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem says the Cairo talks – in which Egyptian intelligence officials are meeting separately delegations from Israel and Hamas – appear to be at a crucial stage.
It is the sequence of events involving the key measures of the plan, such as a cessation of attacks and easing the blockade on Gaza, that may prove a stumbling block, he adds.
Meanwhile, UN Security Council members have been debating a draft statement on Gaza and are awaiting a response from their governments.
The statement, proposed by Arab ambassadors, calls on both parties to stop all military activities and address the humanitarian needs in Gaza.
The BBC’s Barbara Plett at the UN says Western diplomats have been pushing for references to Hamas rocket fire and Israel‘s right to self-defence, rather than just a general call to halt the violence.
They say they are leaving it to their governments to make the final decision.
Russia, however, has said that if the council cannot agree it will table a resolution to be put to the vote on Tuesday.
This seems to be a tactic to put pressure on the US, our correspondent says, by forcing them to veto a resolution if they don’t agree to the statement.
‘SHOULDER RESPONSIBILITY’
Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour said the Security Council should not “remain on the margin”.
He said it was important for the “the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility and stop this aggression against our people”.
On Monday, US President Obama spoke to his Egyptian counterpart Mohammed Mursi and to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, discussing ways to de-escalate the situation, the White House said.
Khaled Meshaal, political leader of the Islamist movement Hamas which controls Gaza, said that a truce was possible in Gaza – as was further escalation of the conflict.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, a year after winning a decisive victory in general elections. Israel withdrew from the strip in 2005 but maintains a blockade around it.
Israel, as well as the United States and the European Union, regards Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
BBC
