JERUSALEM AND GAZA CITY — Israeli troops stepped up attacks on Hamas fighters on the outskirts of Gaza City on Monday as the Palestinian death toll surpassed 900 and Hamas militants managed to fire off a new volley of rockets into southern Israel.
On the 17th day since Israel launched its offensive into the Gaza Strip, the conflict appeared to be reaching a crucial threshold that could result in escalated combat or a negotiated resolution.
In a televised statement from a hide-out presumed to be in Gaza, a top leader of the battered Hamas regime mixed defiance with language suggesting openness to diplomacy. Ismail Haniyeh, who served as prime minister under a previous Palestinian unity government, looked weary and cited Koranic verses and prayers during the speech aired by Hamas-run television, his second since the conflict began.
"We deal positively with any initiative that can end the aggression and allow the withdrawal of the occupation troops and end the siege so that we can stop the bloodshed," Haniyeh said.
But he added: "I am confident that we will reach the point we want, which is victory and the defeat of this aggression. So I want to salute our fighters in the field. We tell them: We kiss your heads and hands and the land underneath you; you are defending the dignity of our people and nation."
Israeli security officials say the Israeli onslaught has caused an increasing number of Hamas combatants to give up the fight and melt into the population, while others hole up in complexes of subterranean bunkers. Top Hamas figures are hiding in a bunker underneath a Gaza City hospital because they believe Israel will not bomb the medical facility, the officials said.
Meanwhile, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a key player in diplomatic efforts to reach a negotiated solution that would end the fighting in Gaza. Israel wants Egypt and the international community to shut down the smuggling tunnels along Gaza's southern border that provide Hamas with rockets used in attacks into Israel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Monday described the talks in Cairo as negotiations "against Hamas and not with it." Israeli leaders say they are determined to pursue the offensive until a security arrangement ensures an end to Hamas rocket attacks.
