Israel Shells Gaza U.N. Warehouse, Hospital, News Bureaus January-15 2009

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military punched deeper into Gaza City on Thursday with a series of strikes that hit the United Nations' headquarters, a major hospital and the offices of international news media groups, even as Israeli leaders weighed an Egyptian initiative for ending the 20-day-old conflict.

For the second time in the offensive, Israel said it had killed a top Hamas political leader in the Gaza Strip. Late Thursday, an airstrike hit Said Siam, who served as interior minister when Hamas won elections to take control of the Palestinian Authority in 2006. On Jan. 1, Israeli forces killed Nizar Rayan, a top military strategist.

Israeli forces hit a Red Crescent hospital Thursday, and more than 100 staff members and patients were trapped as a blaze engulfed the administration building. However, the most spectacular strike came when Israeli forces fired on the U.N. compound in Gaza City, setting off a blaze that sent a pillar of charcoal-black smoke hundreds of feet into the sky.

The attacks coincided with visits to Jerusalem by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Jakob Kellenberger, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Both protested vigorously.

"It is unacceptable that wounded people receiving treatment in hospitals are put at risk," Kellenberger said.

Ban said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak had apologized for the attack on the U.N. compound.

"The defense minister said to me it was a grave
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mistake, and he took it very seriously," Ban said before meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to discuss U.N. efforts to end the fighting immediately.

Another strike hit several high-rise buildings, including one that houses the Reuters news offices.

Reuters had given the Israeli military the location of its office before the fighting broke out last month. On Thursday, as the Israeli forces moved in, Reuters staff members said, they called the Israeli military to remind it where they were.

Two minutes after the call, a shell hit the office, the Reuters staff said.

The Associated Press reported that gunfire struck its office in a separate building.

Thursday's attacks came as Israeli negotiator Amos Gilad met with Egyptian diplomats who are trying to broker an end to the fighting, which has claimed nearly 1,100 Palestinian lives.

While Hamas leaders say they back the Egyptian plan in principle, they haven't yet agreed to the details.

In addition to the Egyptian cease-fire proposal, Israel is seeking a side agreement with the United States for an expanded international effort to stop arms shipments from reaching Hamas, diplomats said.

In a sign the U.S.-Israeli agreement is close, Israel announced Livni would travel to Washington. The side agreement would make it easier for Israel to accept a cease-fire, and it represents the country's last chance to secure support from the outgoing Bush administration.

The diplomats said that under the draft agreement, the United States and Israel would share intelligence and cooperate to prevent weapons from reaching Egypt's side of the border with Gaza. Most of the weapons are thought to come overland across Egypt's Sinai peninsula, while some are smuggled by ship in the Mediterranean.

The diplomats spoke only on the condition of anonymity because the negotiations are ongoing.

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