Israel bombarded Gaza with 50 airstrikes overnight ahead of a proposed unilateral ceasefire, which could be approved by the Jewish state tonight.

Two children were killed in northern Gaza when the UN school they were sheltering in with 1,600 other people was struck by Israeli shelling.

UN spokesman Chris Gunness called for the soldiers involved to be tried for war crimes and said the Israelis had been provided with the coordinates of the school and knew it was being used as a shelter.

The Israeli military was investigating the incident and had no immediate comment. But in similar cases, it has accused Hamas fighters of staging attacks from schools, mosques and other civilian areas.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s security cabinet is due to meet this evening and it is believed ministers may decide to halt the fighting without concluding any deal with Hamas, which controls Gaza.

Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency, said two brothers had been killed and 14 people wounded, including the boys’ mother, when Israeli tank fire hit the school run by UNRWA in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.

About 45,000 Gazans fleeing battle zones are sheltering in UN-run schools in the heavily populated strip. Israeli shelling killed 42 people who had taken refuge at a UN school on January 6. An UNRWA compound was hit twice on Thursday by Israeli fire, destroying tonnes of vital food and medical aid and three staff were wounded. Hospital staff said four people had been killed by tank fire in another Gaza neighbourhood today. Hamas said one of its fighters had also been killed.

Muawiyah Hassanein, director of the Hamas-run ambulance service, said more than 1,199 Palestinians had died, among them 410 children, and 5,300 wounded, including 1,630 children.

Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians, hit by rockets fired from Gaza, have been killed during the campaign which started on December 27.

Israeli jets roared over Gaza before dawn and heavy explosions flashed to the south and north of the city.

The army said it had attacked 50 targets overnight, including 16 tunnels, two mosques from which gunmen had fired on troops, three bunkers, eight rocket-launching pads and six mined areas including a booby-trapped building.

At home,the Prime Minister today offered to send the Royal Navy to help monitor and stop weapons being smuggled into Gaza.

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