The head of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon is calling for a Middle East ceasefire as Israeli airstrikes continue in Gaza for a 6th day.
So far 87 Palestinians have been killed in the violence in the Gaza Strip while 3 Israelis have died in Hamas rocket attacks.
10 people have been killed in airstrikes in the Gaza Strip just this morning.
EU leaders including Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore are meeting in Brussels today to discuss the crisis and the possible resumption of the Middle East Peace Process.
Ground offensive ready
Chief Correspondent with Channel 4 News Alex Thompson is in Gaza.
He says Israel appears to be preparing to invade Gaza but it may not go that far.
"The question is would Benjamin Netanyahu - the Israeli leader - actually do that, just running up to an election" he said.
"The sense is that he can certainly act the strong line in doing what he"s done already; but if you put Israeli ground forces into the Gaza Strip you will take casualties, there will be dead Israeli soldiers".
"That might not count so well in the final stages of an Israeli election".
He says Israel is preparing for a ground invasion though it is not clear if it will happen.
"Well there has been great signs of it, in the sense that the Israelis have clearly sent an awful lot of manpower - tanks, armored bulldozers, rocket-launch system and so forth".
"So it certainly looks physically as if there will be an invasion - we know that any peace negotiations in Cairo amongst Arab countries with low-level Israeli officials have come to nothing" he added.
Photo © United Nations
