Egyptian FM Ahmed Aboul Gheit, (l) French FM Bernard Kouchner, (c), and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leave a meeting on Gaza at UN headquarters in New York, 8 Jan. 2009

After extended negotiations, Arab and Western nations have agreed on a United Nations resolution, calling for a cease-fire between Hamas militants and the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa told reporters that Arab ministers were pushing for a vote in the 15-member U.N. Security Council on Thursday.  Diplomats continued to work out details late in the day.

Moussa says key elements of the draft resolution address the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a fully respected cease-fire, the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and the re-opening of Gaza's border crossings.

The compromise draft also condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians, and all acts of terrorism. It calls on all U.N. member states to help in guaranteeing a sustainable truce, including preventing illegal arms smuggling, and ensuring that crossings remain open.

U.N. officials say more than 750 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory, a third of whom are children, nearly two weeks into the Israeli military offensive against Hamas.

A Palestinian carries flour at a UN food distribution center in Gaza City, 08 Jan 2009 before the UN halted aid deliveries Thursday

On Thursday, the U.N. aid agency (UNRWA)  suspended operations in Gaza because of  what it called the danger posed by the Israeli military.

U.N. officials say an aid convoy came under attack in northern Gaza earlier in the day and two contract workers with its Relief and Works Agency were killed.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack and called for an immediate cease-fire. Israeli officials say they are investigating the incident.

Also Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross accused the Israeli military of failing to meet its obligations under international humanitarian law, delaying efforts to help the wounded in Gaza.

The group said its officials found four starving children huddled with 12 dead bodies in Gaza, in a house just meters from an Israeli military position.

Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes carried out new strikes on suspected arms-smuggling tunnels in the town of Rafah, near the Egyptian border.  And Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets into southern Israel.  

At least 18 Israelis have been killed in nearly two weeks of conflict, including at least nine Israeli soldiers, three of them Thursday.

An Israeli woman walks in her damaged kitchen after a rocket fired from southern Lebanon hit the northern Israeli town of Nahariya, 08 Jan 2009

In a separate development, at least three rockets were fired into the northern Israeli town of Nahariya from Lebanon, slightly wounding two people. The Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006, says it was not involved.  

Israel also announced a three-hour halt in its Gaza offensive for a second day, to allow humanitarian aid into the territory.  Israel has said it is halting its offensive for three hours each day (between 1100 and 1400 GMT) to allow Gaza residents to get supplies and medical help.

Aid workers say the situation in Gaza is dire, with many of the wounded unable to reach hospitals, which have been severely affected by a lack of power, medicines and clean water.

Also Thursday, Israeli defense official Amos Gilad was in Cairo to discuss a plan by Egypt and France for a Gaza cease-fire.  Israel has said it welcomes the Egyptian-French plan but has stopped short of accepting it.  

The Egyptian-French proposal calls for a limited cease-fire to take effect immediately to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.  The plan would then give Egypt time to broker a permanent end to hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas officials based in Syria say the proposal is "not an acceptable basis" for solving the crisis.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.