Senior Israeli ministers have decided to hold off from launching a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon is urging all sides to the Gaza conflict to immediately cease their fire warning at a press conference in Cairo that an escalation would put the entire region at risk.

He is due to meet the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later today.

US enters talks

Meanwhile the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is to travel to the region to help peace talks.

Clinton will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and then she will discuss the crisis with Egyptian and Palestinian leaders but not with Hamas.

7 Palestinians were wounded in strikes on Gaza overnight but no one was killed in the first night without fatalities since the Israeli air campaign began nearly a week ago.

Over 100 people have died since the conflict escalated.

US President Barack Obama said on Sunday it would be "preferable" to avoid an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza but put the onus on Egypt and Turkey to get Hamas to halt cross-border rocket fire.

Obama said Israel had a right to defend itself from attack.