Israel Fights On, Gaza Death Toll Tops 500

Israeli shells slammed into Gaza and ground forces edged closer to major population centers Tuesday, taking more civilian lives after Israel ignored mounting international calls for an immediate cease-fire.

In fighting that raged early Tuesday morning, at least 18 people were killed in shelling up and down the Gaza Strip from tanks and naval craft, local hospital officials said. Only two of the dead were confirmed as militants. According to a top U.N. official, at least 500 Palestinians have been killed in the 11-day Israeli military campaign.

CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reports the casualties also increased on the Israeli side Tuesday. Israel said three of its soldiers were apparently killed by a shell from one of their own tanks; another Israeli was killed in a separate incident of so-called friendly fire early Tuesday morning. In all, Israel says it's lost five soldiers since the fighting began.

Tanks rumbled closer to the towns of Khan Younis and Dir el Balah in south and central Gaza but were still several miles outside, witnesses said, adding that the sounds of fighting could be heard from around the new Israeli positions. Israel already has encircled Gaza City, the area's biggest city.

Israel launched its offensive on Dec. 27 in a bid to halt repeated Palestinian rocket attacks on its southern towns. After a weeklong air campaign, Israeli ground forces invaded Gaza over the weekend. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 100 civilians, according to United Nations figures.

The rising civilian death toll has drawn international condemnations and raised concerns of a looming humanitarian disaster. Many Gazans are without electricity or running water, thousands have been displaced from their homes and residents say that without distribution disrupted, food supplies are running thin.

In one incident overnight, three people were killed when Israel attacked a U.N. school where hundreds had taken shelter.

"There's nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized," said John Ging, the top U.N. official in Gaza, blaming the international community for allowing the violence to continue.

"I am appealing to political leaders here and in the region and the world to get their act together and stop this," he said, speaking at Gaza's largest hospital. "They are responsible for these deaths."

Israel says it won't stop the assault until its southern towns are freed of the threat of Palestinian rocket fire and it receives international guarantees that Hamas, a militant group backed by Iran and Syria, will not restock its weapons stockpile. It blames Hamas for the civilian casualties, saying the group intentionally seeks cover in crowded residential areas.

The army says it has dealt a harsh blow to Hamas, killing 130 militants in the past two days and greatly reducing the rocket fire. At least 15 rockets were fired Tuesday and one landed in the town of Gadera, about 25 miles from the Gaza border, lightly wounding a 3-month-old infant, police said.

Israeli forces have cut the main Gaza highway in several places, compartmentalizing the strip into the north, south and Gaza City itself and preventing movement between them. Israel also has taken over high-rise buildings in Gaza City and destroyed dozens of smuggling tunnels - Hamas' main lifeline - along the Egyptian border.

In Geneva, the international Red Cross said Gaza was in a "full-blown" humanitarian crisis. Its head of operations, Pierre Kraehenbuehl, said the few remaining power supplies could collapse at any moment, leaving 500,000 people without clean water and at risk of disease.

A flurry of diplomatic efforts to forge a cease-fire continued Tuesday. French President Nicolas Sarkozy left Israel after meetings with leaders and headed to neighboring Syria.

Sarkozy immediately set to work trying to convince President Bashar al-Assad to push harder for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

"President Assad should help in convincing Hamas to stop firing the rockets. Syria should help us to convince Hamas to choose the voice of reason and the path of peace and the path of reconciliation," Sarkozy told reporters after his meeting with al-Assad. (Click here to read more on the diplomatic effort in Damascus.)

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stressed to Sarkozy on Monday that any agreement "must contain at its foundation the total cessation of all arms transfers to Hamas," said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.

Regev noted that Hamas used a previous six-month truce to double the range of its rockets. About one-eighth of Israel's 7 million citizens now live in rocket range.

In New York, Arab delegates met with the U.N. Security Council, urging members to adopt a resolution calling for an immediate end to the attacks and a permanent cease-fire.

But, as CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk reported in the World Watch blog, the Arab foreign ministers' latest attempt at a draft resolution seemed unlikely to gain the crucial support of the United States, as it contained no reference to a cessation of rocket fire.

In Washington, the State Department said the U.S. was pressing for a cease-fire that would include a halt to rocket attacks and an arrangement for reopening crossing points on the border with Israel, said spokesman Sean McCormack. The crossings, used to deliver vital food shipments into Gaza, have been largely closed since Hamas took control of Gaza in June 2007. A third element of a U.S.-backed cease-fire would address the smuggling tunnels used by Hamas.

President Bush emphasized "Israel's desire to protect itself."

"The situation now taking place in Gaza was caused by Hamas," he said.

In Tuesday's fighting, six civilians were killed when a shell fired by an Israeli ship hit their house on the Gaza shore, hospital officials said. Local residents said the gunboat apparently fired at a group of militants next to the house who were preparing to ambush advancing Israeli troops. Two of the militants were killed in the blast.

Palestinians said Israeli attacks intensified before dawn and at least 10 more civilians were killed when shells hit houses on the edge of Gaza City and in the Jebaliya refugee camp, to the north.