 Aid workers in Gaza are having trouble distributing existing food supplie |
Israel has agreed to set up a "humanitarian corridor" in the Gaza Strip, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said.
Israel's military will open up "areas for limited periods of time, during which the population will be able to receive the aid", it said.
The office said the goal was to "prevent a humanitarian crisis".
The UN Security Council is meeting in New York to discuss a resolution on the Israeli offensive. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and key European and Arab foreign ministers are attending. Libya's representative has circulated a new draft resolution, on behalf of Arab nations, calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to military operations and the firing of rockets. The draft also calls for the establishment of an international observer force to monitor the truce and for the opening of border crossings into the Gaza Strip. The BBC's Laura Trevelyan at the UN says momentum for a diplomatic solution to the crisis is building but the question is whether it will amount to anything. It is unlikely that the Libyan draft will win US and Israeli support, says our correspondent, as it does not contain any suggestions for policing tunnels into Gaza used by Hamas to smuggle in weapons. France is also working on proposals which would include placing monitors along Gaza's border with Egypt to contain that smuggling. In another development, Venezuela ordered the expulsion of Israel's ambassador in protest at the Gaza offensive and its "flagrant violations of international law". School hit Earlier, at least 30 people were killed and 55 injured when Israeli artillery shells landed near a UN-run school in Gaza, UN officials said. Map Gaza offensive - in maps Gaza humanitarian crisis deepens In pictures: Gaza casualties mount Bowen diary: Mourning the young Aid worker diary: Part 10 BBC News in Arabic The al-Fakhura school in the Jabaliya refugee camp had been a refuge for hundreds people fleeing the 11th day of fighting. The Israeli military said its soldiers had come under mortar fire from Hamas militants inside the school. A spokesman for Hamas denied there had been any hostile fire coming from the school. At least 70 Palestinians and five Israeli soldiers were killed on Tuesday. One soldier was killed in an exchange of fire with militants in Gaza City, while four others were killed by shellfire from their own tanks earlier in the day, Israeli military officials said. Israel says its offensive is stopping militants firing rockets, but at least five hit southern Israel on Tuesday, with one reaching the town of Gedera, about 40km (25 miles) from Gaza, and injuring a baby. Four Israeli civilians have been killed by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip since the offensive began. Casualty claims cannot be independently verified. Israel is refusing to let international journalists into Gaza, despite a supreme court ruling to allow a limited number of reporters to enter the territory. In other developments: • Israeli forces pushed further south in the Gaza Strip and clash with militants near Gaza City • Skirmishes were reported on the edges of the Deir al-Balah and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza • Israeli tanks and soldiers were reportedly advancing on the southern town of Khan Younis
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