Israel halts bombing for three hours to allow aid into Gaza

ISRAEL today called a three-hour halt to its bombing raids over Gaza to allow humanitarian supplies into the war-stricken territory.

The pause in hostilities, which Hamas promised to match, was intended to enable a significantly increased flow of aid into Gaza amid mounting concern about a lack of food and other basic supplies.

Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner said there would be a "recess in offensive operations" between 1 and 4pm to allow aid to be delivered through a safe corridor into Gaza.

Much of Gaza has no power or running water. The World Bank has warned of a severe health crisis because of a shortage of drinking water and an escalating failure of the sewerage system.

The three-hour halt to the bombing raids, which is expected to be repeated over the coming days, came amid optimism that a Franco-Egyptian peace plan put forward at the United Nations could pave the way for an eventual full cessation of violence.

Despite the more positive developments, fighting continued earlier today with heavy gunfire and thick plumes of smoke engulfing the Zeitoun neighborhood east of Gaza City. Israel said it struck 40 Hamas targets. Gaza health officials said the new strikes had killed eight people.

Hamas militants also hit the Israeli city of Ashkelon with a medium-range rocket but there were no casualties. More than 500 aid trucks have been shipped into Gaza since the Israeli offensive began. The military operations have often prevented officials distributing aid, causing food shortages in some areas.

The row over the death of at least 40 Palestinians yesterday in a UN-run school continued to escalate. The UN has protested angrily, saying that it had given Israel precise co-ordinates of the building to prevent it being attacked. Israeli officials have insisted that their troops did not know that civilians were at the site and were retaliating after coming under mortar fire from militants sheltering there.

The Palestinian death toll is now more than 600 since the conflict began. Four Israeli civilians and seven soldiers have also died, with the rising casualty list increasing the pressure for a rapid diplomatic solution.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that Washington "commended" the Franco-Egyptian proposal and urged Israel and Hamas to bring it into effect. She cautioned that it would only work if it was bolstered by measures to halt arms smuggling into Palestinian territory and by an end to rocket attacks on Israel. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas also backed it.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy said in Sharm-el-Sheik that he had spoken to Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and had received positive signs. "I have good hope that the reaction of Israeli authorities will allow us to imagine an end to the operation they have undertaken in Gaza, that is not only a ceasefire but a withdrawal," he said.