- More than 90 Palestinians and three Israelis have died since Operation Pillar of Defence began last Wednesday
- Israel says it is 'ready' for ground invasion, but would prefer a 'diplomatic solution'
- Israeli gunboats unleashed a steady tattoo of heavy machine gun fire and shells at Gaza's coastal road
- The UN secretary general has called for an immediate ceasefire as he prepares to join truce talks in Egypt
- Israeli Prime Minister: ready to expand the operation, after Israel authorised the mobilisation of 75,000 army reservists
- U.S. senator threatens to cut off Egyptian aid saying 'Watch what you do and how you do it'
Save the Children has called for an immediate end to the conflict between Israel and Gaza as fears grow that the situation will have a devastating affect on children who make up nearly half the 1.7 million population of the Gaza Strip.
Israel's Defense Forces (IDF) said it had targeted around 80 sites overnight as airstrikes continued to hit the enclave during the early hours of this morning as the violence entered its sixth day.
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Health officials said rockets hit two houses belonging to a single family, killing two children and a woman and injuring 30 others - half of them children.
It came less than 24 hours hours after several women and children were among 11 reportedly killed in an airstrike on a residential area as Israel expanded its targets to what it said were the homes of wanted militants.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it is deeply concerned about the situation and its impact on the health and lives of civilians in the area, while charity Save the Children said hundreds of thousands of youngsters are trapped in houses in Gaza facing prolonged power cuts and depleting supplies of food and water.
While the airstrikes relentlessly targeted militant rocket operations, Israeli gunboats unleashed a steady tattoo of heavy machine gun fire and shells at militant facilities on Gaza's coastal road.
The bloodshed was likely to raise pressure on Israel to end the fighting, even as it pledged to intensify the offensive by striking the homes of wanted militants.
High numbers of civilian casualties in an offensive four years ago led to fierce criticism and condemnation of Israel.
More than 90 Palestinians and three Israelis have died since Operation Pillar of Defence began last Wednesday
The charity said 25 schools, two clinics and a hospital have been damaged in the Gaza, while schools on both sides of the border remain closed during the conflict.Some are experiencing power cuts of up to 18 hours a day.
Israel is ready for a ground invasion in the Gaza Strip but prefers a diplomatic solution, a senior official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today.
'We would prefer to see a diplomatic solution that would guarantee the peace for Israel's population in the south. If that is possible, then a ground operation would no longer be required,' said the official.
'But if diplomacy fails, we may well have no alternative but to send in ground forces.'
Egypt's efforts to negotiate a truce between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza are ongoing and a deal to stop the fighting could be close, the Egyptian prime minister said today.
'Negotiations are going on as we speak and I hope we will reach something soon that will stop this violence and counter violence,' Prime Minister Hisham Kandil said in an interview in Cairo.
'I think we are close, but the nature of this kind of negotiation, (means) it is very difficult to predict,' he said.
A senior Israeli diplomat was spotted arriving in Cairo for secret talks aimed at ending the increasing bloody conflict.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon added his voice to growing calls for a ceasefire saying he was heading to the region to personally appeal for an end to the violence.
He said he was heading to the region to appeal personally for an end to the violence, but no date was given in the UN statement for his arrival.
President Barack Obama said he was in touch with players across the region in hopes of halting the fighting, while also warning of the risks of Israel expanding its air assault into a ground war.
'We're going to have to see what kind of progress we can make in the next 24, 36, 48 hours,' Mr Obama said during a visit in Thailand.
U.S. lawmakers are calling on Egypt and Turkey to take a central role in helping to end the bloody conflict in the Middle East, with one influential senator going so far as to say that American aid dollars are at risk if Egypt doesn't reign in Hamas militants.
Their comments came as the U.S. and Britain warned about the risks of an Israeli ground assault in the Gaza Strip, while vigorously defending the Jewish state's right to protect itself against rocket attacks.
'Egypt, watch what you do and how you do it,' said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, in an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
''You're teetering with the Congress on having your aid cut off if you keep inciting violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians."
William Hague has led fresh calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East amid growing concerns over the safety of innocent civilians caught up in the conflict.
The Foreign Secretary warned Israel that it risked losing international sympathy if it escalated its campaign against Palestinian militants into a ground invasion.
But he repeated his insistence that Hamas bore 'principal responsibility' for the violence and urged its leaders to cease a barrage of missiles still being fired at Tel Aviv and other areas.
Daniel Taub, the Israeli ambassador to the UK, said the country was reluctant to send its troops into Gaza, but that a 'dramatic increase' in violence meant it 'could not sit still' and had to start mobilising its forces.
Asked if he was worried that Israel would lose international support and sympathy if a ground invasion was launched, Mr Taub told ITV's Daybreak: 'We are very concerned about international support but also very concerned about the lives of our citizens and in that case we have to do what any responsible country would do.
'We don't want to have a ground operation. The answer is Hamas to stop firing and to have a genuine ceasefire that is going to last.'
When asked by the BBC about recent Palestinian deaths, Mr Taub said: 'They are dying because unfortunately we have terrorists who place themselves in the hearts of civilian areas, and what we can't afford to do is say they are out of harm's way because if we do that we're sending an open invitation to every terrorist organisation to set up in a school or a hospital.
'Unfortunately we have to grapple with terrible dilemmas which do not seem to bother them at all.'
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet the Israel Defence Forces were prepared for a 'serious broadening' of the operation - amid fears it will send in troops.
On the ground, there were no signs of any let-up in the fighting as Israel announced it was widening the offensive to target the military commanders of the ruling Hamas group.
The Israeli military carried out dozens of airstrikes throughout the day, and naval forces bombarded targets along Gaza's Mediterranean coast. Many of the attacks focused on homes where militant leaders or weapons were believed to be hidden.
Palestinian militants continued to barrage Israel with rockets, firing more than 100 on Sunday, and setting off air raid sirens across the southern part of the country.
Some 40 rockets were intercepted by Israel's US-financed Iron Dome rocket-defence system, including two that targeted the metropolis of Tel Aviv. At least 10 Israelis were wounded by shrapnel.
Israel's decision to step up its attacks in Gaza marked a new and risky phase of the operation, given the likelihood of civilian casualties in the densely populated territory of 1.6 million Palestinians.
Israel launched the offensive in what it said was an effort to end months of intensifying rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
In the day's deadliest violence, the Israeli navy fired at a home where it said a top wanted militant was hiding.
The missile struck the home of the Daloo family in Gaza City, reducing the structure to rubble.
Frantic rescuers, bolstered by bulldozers, pulled the limp bodies of children from the ruins of the house, including a toddler and a five-year-old, as survivors and bystanders screamed in grief. Later, the bodies of the children were laid out in the morgue of Gaza City's Shifa Hospital.
Among the 11 dead were four small children and five women, including an 81-year-old, Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said.
More than a dozen homes of Hamas commanders or families linked to Hamas were struck on Sunday.
Though most were empty - their inhabitants having fled to shelter - at least three had families in them. Mr al-Kidra said 20 of 27 people killed yesterday were civilians, mostly women and children.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said that 'the Israeli people will pay the price' for the killing of civilians.
Israel sought to place the blame on militants, saying they were intentionally operating in places inhabited by civilians. The military has released videos and images of what it says are militants firing rockets from mosques, schools and public buildings.
'Hamas is using the Gaza population as human shields,' said Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai, the chief Israeli spokesman. 'They are exploiting crowded residential urban areas.'
He acknowledged, however, that it was not clear whether the militant targeted in yesterday's attack was killed, despite earlier claims of success. 'I still don't know what became of him,' Mr Mordechai told Channel 10 TV.
The prospect of mounting civilian casualties could quickly change the momentum of Israel's operation. Israel launched the offensive on Wednesday with a lightning airstrike that killed Hamas' military chief.
Since then, it has carried out a blistering campaign of more than 1,200 airstrikes, targeting suspected rocket storage and launching sites.
Israel also struck two high-rise buildings housing media outlets, damaging the top-floor offices of the Hamas TV station, Al Aqsa, and a Lebanese-based broadcaster, Al Quds TV, seen as sympathetic to the Islamists.
Six Palestinian journalists were wounded, including one who lost a leg, the Gaza press association said.
Foreign broadcasters, including British, German and Italian TV outlets, also had offices in the buildings.
Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said the strikes targeted Hamas communications equipment on the rooftops. She accused the group of using journalists for cover.
Israeli officials expressed readiness to take the offensive even further with a ground invasion of Gaza. Israel has mobilised thousands of forces and columns of armored vehicles along the border ahead of a possible incursion.
'The Israeli military is prepared to significantly expand the operation,' Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.
The threats come at an important crossroads - with a fateful choice between further escalation or agreeing to a ceasefire with Hamas. Israel and the West consider Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, to be a terrorist group.
Mr Obama and UK Foreign Secretary William Hague cautioned against a potential Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.
Mr Obama blamed Palestinian militants for starting the round of fighting by raining rockets onto Israel and said the US supported Israel's right to protect itself.
'Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,' Mr Obama said.
Mr Hague also said Hamas 'bears principal responsibility' for initiating the violence, but made clear the diplomatic risks of an Israeli escalation.
'A ground invasion is much more difficult for the international community to sympathise with or support,' he said.
A ground operation would carry grave risks, given the likelihood of heavy casualties on both sides. The Israeli offensive into Gaza four years ago left hundreds of civilians dead, drawing fierce international condemnation and war crimes accusations.
Israel said its intelligence and technology have been perfected since then to minimise civilian casualties. But Gaza's crowded urban landscape makes it all but impossible to avoid them altogether, as yesterday's attack in Gaza City illustrated.
'In this case, you can't avoid collateral damage if they position the rockets in densely populated areas, in mosques, school yards,' said Israeli vice premier Moshe Yaalon. 'We shouldn't be blamed for the outcome.'
Avihai Mandelblit, a recently retired chief advocate general in the Israeli military, said that from a legal perspective, 'there's no immunity to anyone if you put weapons inside of civilian infrastructure'.
But he acknowledged the sight of dead civilians could create a public relations debacle for Israel. 'As more civilians will get hurt, the legitimacy clock is going to click faster to end this operation,' he said.
Mr Obama said he had been in touch with Mr Netanyahu as well as the leaders of Egypt and Turkey as international attempts to broker a cease-fire continued. Egypt, which often serves as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, has taken a leading role in the efforts.
Israeli TV stations said an Israeli envoy traveled to Cairo on Sunday, and was returning to Israel with details of cease-fire proposals. Channel 2 TV, citing American diplomats, said Mr Netanyahu's personal envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, would be headed to Washington in the coming days.
Hamas officials said their supreme leader, Khaled Meshaal, also held talks with Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, and that Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu was to visit Gaza tomorrow.
Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers remain far apart on any terms for a halt to the bloodshed.
Hamas is linking a truce deal to a complete lifting of the border blockade on Gaza imposed since Islamists seized the territory by force. Hamas also seeks
Israeli guarantees to halt targeted killings of its leaders and military commanders. Israeli officials reject such demands.
They say they are not interested in a 'time-out', and want firm guarantees that militant rocket fire into Israel will end. Past ceasefires have been short lived.
...then the next step should be to demand regime change and intervention by UN or NATO peacekeeping forces!
Wouldn't that be an interesting twist of fate? To treat Israel just as we have been treating all the other countries in that area?