(CBS/AP) Israeli warplanes pounded the homes of Hamas leaders and ground troops edged closer to the Gaza Strip's densely-populated urban center Monday, as Israel stepped up the pressure ahead of deciding whether to escalate its devastating two-week offensive.
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CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reported the Israeli war cabinet was apparently of two minds Monday morning; some ministers in favor of winding the operation down, others arguing it should continue to further damage Hamas' military capability.
From downtown Gaza City black smoke could be seen rising over the eastern suburbs, where the two sides skirmished throughout the night. At least six Palestinians were killed in the new airstrikes or died from their wounds on Monday, Gaza health officials said. One of the dead was a militant killed in a northern Gaza battle.
As Israeli ground forces moved deeper into the densely populated areas of Gaza, witnesses said there was fierce house-to-house fighting with gunmen from Hamas, reported CBS News correspondent Robert Berger.
Despite the tightening Israeli cordon around Gaza City, however, militants still managed to fire off a rocket Monday morning which fell near the southern town of Kiryat Gat but caused no casualties, police said.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said Sunday that Israel's military has fired artillery shells with the incendiary agent white phosphorus into Gaza and a doctor there said the chemical was suspected in the case of 10 burn victims who had skin peeling off their faces and bodies.
The Israeli army announced Sunday that it had begun sending reserve units into Gaza to assist thousands of ground forces already in the territory. The use of reserves is a strong signal that Israel is planning to move the offensive, which already has killed some 870 Palestinians, into a new, more punishing phase.
Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27, bombarding Gaza with dozens of airstrikes before sending in ground forces a week later. The operation is meant to halt years of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. Fighting has persisted despite international calls for a cease-fire. Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have died.
With Israeli troops already surrounding Gaza's main population centers, Israeli leaders have given mixed signals on how much further the army is ready to push, saying the operation is close to achieving its goals but vowing to press forward with overwhelming force.
"Israel is a country that reacts vigorously when its citizens are fired upon, which is a good thing," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Israel Radio on Monday. "That is something that Hamas now understands and that is how we are going to react in the future, if they so much as dare fire one missile at Israel."
Israeli security officials believe they have struck a tough blow against Hamas, killing hundreds of the Islamic militant group's fighters, including top commanders. The director of the Shin Bet security agency told the Cabinet on Sunday that Hamas leaders in Gaza are ready to surrender.
Phillips reported that there does seem to be a difference of opinion between Hamas' exiled leaders in Syria, and their top brass on the ground in the Gaza Strip - with the latter apparently more ready to seek terms for a cease-fire than the exiles.
The army also says Hamas has been avoiding pitched battles against the advancing Israelis, resorting instead to guerrilla tactics as its fighters melt into crowded residential areas.
Maj. Avital Leibovich, an army spokeswoman, said residential neighborhoods in Gaza are riddled with booby traps and explosives, and in some cases dummies are placed at apartment entrances to simulate militants and rigged to explode if soldiers approach.
Hamas, at least publicly, has vowed to continue fighting.
Israeli ground forces made their deepest foray yet into Gaza City on Sunday, with tanks rolling into residential neighborhoods and infantry fighting urban warfare in streets in buildings with Hamas militants, Palestinian residents said.
The army "is advancing more into urban areas," Leibovich said. "Since the majority of the Hamas militants are pretty much in hiding in those places, mainly urban places, then we operate in those areas."
Israeli leaders are expected to decide in the next day or two on whether to push the offensive into a third phase - in which the army takes over larger areas of Gaza. This move would require the use of thousands of reserve units massed on the border with Gaza.
Defense officials said several thousand reservists were already in Gaza as part of preparations for the new phase. For the time being, the units have been taking over areas cleared out by the regular troops, allowing those forces to push forward toward new targets. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified operational strategy.
Early Monday, Israeli navy gunboats fired more than 25 shells at Gaza City, setting fires and shaking office buildings, including the local bureau of The Associated Press. The military said that in general, the targets are Hamas installations but had no immediate information about the shelling that began just after midnight.
German and British envoys pressed efforts to negotiate an end to the war even though Israel and Hamas have ignored a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and durable cease-fire.
Israel is demanding an end to years of rocket attacks, as well as international guarantees to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons into Gaza through the porous Egyptian border. This complex goal would require Egyptian or international help in shutting off the smuggling routes.
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