Israelis enter Gaza City suburbs

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Israel's push into Tel Hawwa neighbourhood was the furthest it has moved into Gaza City during an 18-day offensive against Hamas militants, bringing Israel's ground forces within one mile (1.5km) of the crowded city centre.

Palestinian hospital officials say more than 900 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed.

Israel launched the offensive on December 27 after Palestinian rocket attacks on its southern towns, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed to press forward with an "iron fist", despite growing international calls for an end to the fighting.

Palestinian witnesses said the Israeli forces moved overnight about 300m into Tel Hawwa, a neighbourhood of high-rise buildings on the southeastern edge of Gaza City.

Palestinian medical officials reported at least 16 people killed in fighting, though the Israeli army suggested the number could be much higher.

The Israeli military said it carried out some 60 airstrikes overnight, hitting groups of Hamas militants holed up in a hotel, a house and a mosque. It said it also struck 15 squads of gunmen, rocket launching sites and 15 smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border.

The army said it had hit about 30 militants, and that three soldiers were wounded in overnight fighting. Among them was an officer who was seriously wounded when a bomb exploded in a northern Gaza house that he was searching. Weapons, including a machine gun, were later found in the house, the military said.

Frustrated and anguished at the escalating violence in Gaza, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is embarking on a Mid East tour to press for Israel and Hamas to immediately stop fighting and allow humanitarian aid into the devastated Palestinian territory.

Mr Ban said he plans to step up diplomatic efforts to get both sides to adhere to a UN ceasefire resolution calling for an end to Israel's air and ground offensive in Gaza and Hamas' rocketing of southern Israel.