Red-hot shrapnel fell on the grounds of the main U.N. aid agency in Gaza on Thursday as its spokesman urged both Israel and the Palestinian territory's rulers to stop their now-20-day war. Both Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, have refused a Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is in the region trying to get the fighting to stop, while Arab nations jossle to take the lead in attempting to broker a cease-fire.
"The world community has spoken through the council, and the message is clear," Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, told CNN.
But he added: "I'm standing looking over the town of Beit Hanoun, and with every dull thud and every plume of smoke that comes out of there, it's sad to say that the parties on the ground are not listening."
Witnesses said fighting intensified overnight in southern Gaza City's Tel el-Hawa neighborhood. Israeli forces have closed in on the densely populated city since the weekend.
Gunness said UNRWA officials reported red-hot shrapnel being scattered around the agency's Gaza City headquarters from nearby fighting. Though its staff is still working "with extraordinary courage," he said, "It means trucks can't get to our compound, which is our main warehouse in Gaza. And trucks can't leave, which means that the food distribution centers and health centers in the outlying parts can't be resupplied."
Israeli military sources confirmed that heavy fighting was going on near the UNRWA compound. Gunness said the agency had urged Israel to stop fighting nearby, but had no response.
Israeli aircraft struck 70 targets in Gaza overnight, the Israel Defense Forces reported Thursday, while fighting on the ground left 11 Israeli troops wounded. The military said about 35 armed Palestinian fighters were wounded or killed in those clashes, mostly by airstrikes.
The Israeli military has been halting its bombardment for daily three-hour stretches to allow trucks loaded with food, fuel and medical supplies to enter the territory. It said it planned to let 170 trucks through the border on Thursday, and announced the appointment of an army officer, Brig. Gen. Shimi Daniel, to coordinate humanitarian efforts.
But Gunness said: "We are being hampered in our humanitarian work, and we'll continue to be hampered unless the parties listen to the conscience of the world."
Israel launched its campaign against Gaza on December 27 in an effort to halt the firing of rockets at its southern cities. That fire persisted Thursday, with at least 10 rockets or mortar shells striking Israeli territory, the IDF reported.
Gunness said the world has watched the fighting in Gaza with "utter revulsion, and there's been equal revulsion, I think, for the rockets that fly in and have been hitting innocent civilians in Israel." More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 5,000 wounded since the conflict began, Palestinian officials said Wednesday. Israel said 10 of its soldiers and three civilians have been killed and more than 100 soldiers have been wounded.
Ban, who has repeatedly called for the fighting to end, headed to Jerusalem on Thursday after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the first of several days of talks around the region.
Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist and has been designated a terrorist organization by the Israeli government, the United States and the European Union. A top official of the movement, which won Palestinian elections in 2006, said Wednesday that it would accept a cease-fire only if the Jewish state withdraws from Gaza and lifts its economic blockade of the territory.
The issue has split the Arab nations into two camps: Those, like Egypt, who want an end to Hamas' political influence, and others, like Qatar, who are more sympathetic to the movement.
Egypt has hosted peace talks with leaders from Israel and the Palestinian Authority and has acted as an intermediary between Hamas and Israel. But Mubarak and other Arab leaders appeared at odds on how to address the crisis -- or even where to meet.
Egypt wants to hold a summit in Kuwait on Sunday, on the eve of a previously scheduled Arab economic summit there. But other Arab nations along the Persian Gulf -- Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman -- are holding their own summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Thursday, according to state-run Saudi media.
And Qatar's Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani has renewed his call for an emergency summit in Doha on Friday "to discuss the situation in Gaza and the position Arab nations should take towards Israel," the Qatar News Agency reported.
For its part, Hamas is frustrated with the diplomatic tug-of-war.
"Is it possible to get into the third week of this Zionist aggression against Gaza and the Arabs can't hold a summit for Gaza and to stop this aggression?" Hamas spokesman Mohammed Nizal asked Wednesday.
But Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told CNN that he does not believe Hamas is interested in a lasting truce.
"Hamas is under a lot of pressure and they would like nothing more than a time-out just to rearm, regroup and prepare for the next round," Regev told CNN. "And that's not the sort of cease-fire Israel will agree to."
