Graphic: in the firing line | Cockpit Video: Israel's aerial onslaught

European Union foreign ministers were meeting in Paris this evening to discuss an appeal for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

In what will be France’s last act before passing on the rotating EU presidency, Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister, will urge his European colleagues to issue a joint truce demand.

“The return of the truce and an end to violence should happen as quickly as possible. Humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza is also indispensable,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The attempt to reach some international consensus on calling for end to the violence began as Israel warned that its aerial attacks, which have now entered their fourth day, are only “the first of several” military stages intended to wipe out Hamas.

As the army said it was ready to begin a ground incursion and tanks and infantry forces massed on the border, Israeli officials said that the military “has made preparations for long weeks of action”.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, upped the stakes further when he said that he had informed Shimon Peres, the country's ceremonial President, that the current phase of the operation was the first of several stages approved by the security cabinet.

Fires burnt today across Gaza City, where five government buildings were badly damaged in air attacks after Israel pledged to destroy any building with links to Hamas. Targets included a university building, the Interior Ministry and the office of Ismail Haniya, the Hamas political leader.

The Palestinian death toll has now reached 363, including 39 children, with 1,720 people wounded. Most of the victims have been Hamas security forces but at least 64 of them were civilians, according to UN figures. The toll includes two sisters, aged 4 and 11, who died in an airstrike on a rocket squad in northern Gaza this morning.

Peace activists attempting to take humanitarian supplies into Gaza on a small boat claimed that they were repeatedly rammed by an Israeli naval vessel today. The SS Dignity was forced to dock in Lebanon after collisions with patrol boats, but the navy denied that the boat, carrying medical supplies, was deliberately singled-out.

Hamas continued to fire rockets back at the Jewish state, but there were signs that it was feeling the political strain of the onslaught, with claims that its leader-in-exile was ready to renew a ceasefire that expired ten days ago.

In Senegal, which currently presides over the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the Hamas leader-in-exile, Khaled Mashal, reportedly said that he was ready to renew the ceasefire if Israel ended its bombardment and allowed supplies into Gaza. Hamas denied the report.

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