GAZA CITY AND CAIRO — Calls by Arab and European leaders for a cease-fire in the Gaza conflict intensified Tuesday in the aftermath of a mortar attack by Israeli forces on a United Nations school that killed at least 30 Palestinians who had sought shelter there.
Israeli officials, who said the school was targeted because Hamas militants had launched mortar rounds from its grounds, announced later in the day that they would establish a "humanitarian corridor" to transport vital supplies to Gaza Strip residents.
As raw video images of dead youngsters were beamed repeatedly throughout much of the globe, world political leaders reacted.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened a Security Council meeting saying, "Today's events underscore the dangers inherent in the continuation and escalation of this conflict. I call once again for an immediate cease-fire."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces were ousted from Gaza in 2007 by Hamas, called the school deaths "a massacre" and urged intervention by the Security Council to protect Gazans from "genocide."
Meanwhile, Hamas continued to fire rockets at civilian targets in southern Israel, one striking a town less than 20 miles south of Tel Aviv.
A truce proposal from Egypt, which had mediated a six-month cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that collapsed last month, calls for both sides to stop fighting for a limited period to allow humanitarian aid to be shipped into Gaza. Egypt would then lead talks with the two sides to make long-term border arrangements and lift an Israeli blockade of Gaza.
At the Security Council, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed the Israeli humanitarian aid proposal but also pointed out the difficulty of distributing supplies. She said the U.S. would "actively work to relieve" any problems.
Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said her country was taking the Egyptian truce proposal "very seriously," but she also made it clear that Israel was not interested in any Security Council action that was not backed up by force on the ground. "Does anyone here truly believe that Hamas will heed the words of this council?" she asked.
In Gaza on Tuesday, as Israeli forces continued to pound deeper into urban neighborhoods, the street battles and bloodshed showed no signs of ebbing. Palestinian medical officials reported that 75 Gazans were killed as Israeli forces swept into more densely populated areas.
