News From Gaza

The United Nations Security Council is about to vote on a draft resolution calling for an immediate end to the violence in Gaza.

The 15-member council - which is in closed-door consultations at the UN headquarters in New York - is expected to rubberstamp the agreement.Western and Arab foreign ministers have already backed the draft resolution.

It urges "an immediate, durable and fully-respected ceasefire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."It also "calls for the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment".Earlier, the UN said it was suspending aid operations in Gaza after one of its drivers was killed by gunfire from an Israeli tank.

It said there would be no more deliveries "until the Israeli authorities can guarantee our safety and security".The UN said the shooting happened despite the truck's movements having been cleared by the Israeli military.

Meanwhile, the Hizbollah minister in Lebanon's cabinet has denied the group is responsible for rockets fired into northern Israel near the town of Nahariya.Two elderly women sufferred minor injuries in the attack, according to Israeli medical staff. Sky's Middle East correspondent Dominic Waghorn, on the Israel-Gaza border, said: "If it is Hizbollah, it is a major development.

"It means Israel will have to fight a war on two fronts."Israeli warplanes pounded at least 40 targets in Gaza overnight, according to Palestinian civil defence officials.Most of the strikes were in the border town of Rafah, where Israel had warned people to leave their houses, and the southern city of Khan Younis.

The heaviest fire was concentrated on suspected arms-smuggling tunnels on Gaza's border with Egypt. There were no reports of casualties.Israel is trying to destroy hundreds of tunnels, which it says are being used to ferry weapons and rockets to Hamas fighters.

Hamas responded to the assault on the smuggling routes by launching rockets into the Israeli towns of Ashkelon and Beersheba. No injuries have been reported.In Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a mosque, leaving 15 people wounded, Palestinians say.

Hostilities resumed after a three-hour break to allow food and fuel to reach Palestinian civilians in Gaza.