Nevertheless, Israeli air strikes and Palestinian rocket fire continued for a seventh day.

Egypt was trying to broker a truce between Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas movement. An Egyptian intelligence source said "there is still no breakthrough and Egypt is working to find middle ground".

In Cairo, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate ceasefire and said an Israeli ground operation in Gaza would be a "dangerous escalation" that must be avoided.

He had held talks in Cairo with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil before travelling to Israel for discussions with its leader, Benjamin Netanyahu. Ban planned to return to Egypt on Wednesday to see Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, who was unavailable on Tuesday due to the death of his sister.