Blair Says Mideast Cease-Fire Elements in Place

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Israel Tightens Grip on Gaza Strip

Israel continues its military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip as diplomats in Cairo suggest tentative progress in their efforts to reach a cease-fire.

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In the fighting, 27 Palestinians were killed, according to medical officials in Gaza. There was no report of Israeli casualties. The overall Palestinian death toll rose to 876 on Sunday, the medical officials said, as many as half of whom were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have been killed since the war began Dec. 27.

While the tanks later retreated, their foray into the outskirts of Gaza City could be a prelude to the sort of urban warfare that would mark any Israeli advance into the sprawling, densely packed cities and refugee camps where most Gazans live.

"We have to push Hamas into the corner," said Yaakov Amidror, a retired major general who served as the military's chief of research and assessment. "The way to do that is to control the ground, and to control the ground we have to go in with more forces."

Such a mission would be high-risk and would probably elevate the casualty toll on both sides. But pressure has been building in Israel for the military to capitalize on its success and destroy what remains of Hamas authority in Gaza. Until now, Olmert has said that that is not his goal; he instead has defined a more limited objective of stopping or greatly reducing Hamas rocket fire.

"Israel is getting close to achieving the goals it set for itself," Olmert told his cabinet during their weekly meeting Sunday. "But patience, determination and effort are still needed to realize these goals in a manner that will change the security situation in the south."

According to Israeli news reports, Olmert and his two top deputies, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, disagree over how the war should end, and the three have argued in recent days over whether Israel should seek a cease-fire with Hamas or unilaterally declare victory. With Israeli elections a month away, the stakes in the war are high for both Livni and Barak, who are vying to succeed Olmert.

Despite Israel's relentless bombardment of Hamas-affiliated targets, rockets continued to fly out of Gaza on Sunday, with more than 20 launched into Israel. Several landed in the city of Beersheba, 25 miles away, although no major injuries were reported.

Top Israeli defense officials told Israel's cabinet Sunday that Hamas's capabilities had been badly damaged by the offensive in Gaza but that the Islamist movement would not end its attacks. Hamas "is not expected to raise a white flag," military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin told the Israeli cabinet, according to the cabinet's secretary.

On Saturday, Hamas leader Khaled Meshal was defiant in a videotaped speech from Damascus, saying that Palestinians in Gaza would keep fighting and that Hamas would not consider a cease-fire until Israel ended its offensive and opened the border crossings. Even as he spoke, however, a Hamas delegation was holding talks in Cairo, which continued Sunday. Israel was planning to send a senior Defense Ministry official, Amos Gilad, on Monday.

Israel says it wants Hamas to halt its rocket fire and Egypt to guarantee -- possibly through an international monitoring force -- that the Gaza-Egypt border will not be used for smuggling weapons. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has so far balked at the idea of monitors.

"At the end of the day, the key is in the hands of the Egyptians," Amidror said.

The Israeli air force has launched dozens of attacks on an extensive network of smugglers' tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, and military analysts say that sending ground troops to take the area could be a focus of the Israeli campaign's third phase.