Israeli troops tighten hold around Gaza city: Army

Israeli ground forces were involved in fierce clashes with the Hamas as troops tightened their hold around Gaza city on Tuesday with prime minister Ehud Olmert warning that the Islamic militants face an "iron fist".

As the Israeli offensive against Hamas entered its 18th day, ground forces tightened their hold around the Gaza. Israeli military said troops were "tightening the encirclement of the city" as forces pushed deeper into the populated areas of the enclave where more than 900 Palestinians, nearly half of them women and children, have been killed.

Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert threatened to hit Hamas with an "iron fist" if it did not end the rocket attacks which Tel Aviv aims to end.

Olmert said Israel's key demands were non-negotiable. "We want to end the operation when the two conditions we have demanded are met: ending the rocket fire and stopping Hamas's rearmament. If these two conditions are met, we will end our operation in Gaza," he said. "Anything else will meet the iron fist of the Israeli people, who are no longer ready to tolerate the Qassams (rockets)."

Israeli military spokesman said nearly 30 missiles had been launched from Gaza on Monday, but no casualties were reported.

"We are tightening the encirclement of the city," the offensive's commander, Brigadier Eyal Eisenberg, told reporters. "We are not static. We are careful to be constantly on the move."

The defiant Hamas showed no signs of wavering. Gaza's Hamas prime minister said the the militants were "closer to victory."

The fighting, which began on December 27, has killed more than 900 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, according to Palestinian medical officials. Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have been killed. 

Israeli jets and attack helicopters pounded suspected Hamas positions in Gaza City, particularly the homes of the Islamic militant leadership. The strikes came as Israeli troops advanced into the highly-populated suburbs of Gaza City.

Israeli forces clashed with Hamas fighters across the Gaza Strip after Tel Aviv poured reserve troops on Monday as it pushed deeper into the heavily populated coastal enclave in further escalation of the conflict.

The fighting came amid continued diplomacy in Egypt, whose officials were talking with Hamas representatives about a possible truce.

Though diplomatic efforts have made little concrete progress, envoys of the militant Palestinian Hamas resumed talks in Cairo with Egyptian intelligence officials on a truce proposal for the embattled Gaza Strip, officials said on Tuesday.

Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak, meanwhile, left for Saudi Arabia for talks with his ally, King Abdullah on the conflict which has pitched Arabs in a new controversy.

The defiant leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip vowed that the Islamists would emerge victorious.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who is due in the region on Wednesday, called on Israel and Hamas to immediately stop the fighting, saying "too many people have died."

"My message is simple, direct, and to the point: the fighting must stop. To both sides, I say: Just stop now," Ban said before his departure.

Israel defense minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday that troops would continue its offensive against the militants in Gaza alongside diplomatic efforts to achieve a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group.

"The operation is ongoing, alongside our monitoring of diplomatic efforts. We heard yesterday, and we respect, the request by UN secretary-general and we are also monitoring the treatment of the Egyptian initiative," Barak was quoted as saying by the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Israel's top defense official underlined that troops have inflicted damage on Hamas in Gaza, but would continue fighting to achieve more.

"We are working to deepen the blow to its military arm, reduce [Hamas] fire, strengthen [Israeli] deterrence and improve the security situation for residents of southern Israel living under the threat of attacks," Defense Forces chief of staff Lt Gen Gabi Ashkenazi, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Israeli Army Radio reported that prime minister Olmert, Barak and foreign minister Tzipi Livni had decided against expanding the military campaign for the time being in order to give a chance to Egyptian-led diplomatic efforts to stop weapons smuggling.

Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas accused Israel of aiming to "wipe out" the Palestinian people in Gaza by refusing to end its deadly war on Hamas in the battered enclave.

"This is the 18th day of the Israeli aggression against our people, which has become more ferocious each day as the number of victims rises," Abbas said in Ramallah.

"Israel is keeping up this aggression to wipe out our people over there," he told a high level meeting Palestine Liberation Organisation.

In another development, Israel's Central Elections Committee disqualified Arab political parties from participating in the forthcoming February 10 general elections following a heated debate that saw incessant accusations of "racism" and "disloyalty" exchanged between Jewish and Arab parliamentarians.

The Arab parties, 'Balad' and 'United Arab List - Ta'al', were barred by the committee in a vote that reflected sharp polarisation among country's Jewish majority and the Arab minority on community lines over the ongoing fighting in Gaza.