JERUSALEM — After four days of airstrikes that have partly crippled Hamas, Israel signaled interest Tuesday in a proposed 48-hour suspension of its offensive in the Gaza Strip to test prospects for a full cease-fire with the militant Palestinian group.
The proposal, offered by France, came as Israeli troops and tanks were massed along the Gaza border for a possible ground invasion. Israel's air force appeared to be running out of new targets and losing the advantage of surprise it had early in the offensive, which began Saturday.
Israeli aircraft continued to attack the coastal enclave Tuesday, pounding supply tunnels under Gaza's border with Egypt, an empty Hamas government complex, several security installations and the home of a senior Hamas commander.
The four-day death toll rose to 384 Palestinians, including Lama Hamdan, 4, and her sister Haia, 11, who were riding a donkey cart Tuesday near a rocket-launching site targeted by Israel.
The United Nations said that the death toll included nearly 70 civilians, fueling diplomatic pressure on Israel to halt the offensive. Three Israeli civilians and a soldier have been killed by rocket fire since the offensive began.
Hamas fired 42 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli communities Tuesday, striking deeper than ever into the Jewish state but causing no serious casualties. Two rockets landed 28 miles from Gaza in the desert city of Beersheba, a range that makes 700,000 Israelis, a tenth of the country's population, potential targets.
The open-ended offensive is the strongest attempt yet to break Hamas' ability and will to stage rocket attacks, which have intensified since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
Israeli officials say the airstrikes have destroyed one-third of Hamas' estimated arsenal of 3,000 rockets and half its underground launch silos -- "an overwhelming blow, albeit far from critical," said Yair Naveh, a former commander of Israeli forces in the West Bank.
He said the offensive was nearing a decisive point: Israeli leaders must either escalate the fight with a ground invasion or arrange a cease-fire.
Israeli officials said they were weighing both courses of action. But the prospect of a cease-fire appeared to dominate a series of high-level meetings Tuesday in Jerusalem, prodded by initiatives from Europe, Egypt and Turkey and by an indirect show of interest from Hamas.
