Tel Aviv - An Israeli soldier was killed Sunday morning in a clash with Hamas in the Gaza Strip during Israel's ground offensive in the salient, an Israeli military spokesman said.

He said 31 Israeli soldiers have been wounded in the ground fighting, one of them critically, two seriously, and the rest moderately to slightly.

Medical officials in Gaza say 35 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli troops crossed into the Strip Saturday night as part of "Operation Cast Lead" against militants, and 150 have been wounded.

Tel Aviv/Gaza  - Continuing the second stage of a massive offensive against militants in the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops pushed further into the salient Sunday, battling Palestinian gunmen and cutting the enclave into two as they deployed south of Gaza City and seized control of a major traffic artery.

Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed his concern Sunday at the escalation in fighting triggered by Israel's ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.

"The latest military action has sent hopes of an early cessation of hostilities receding into the distance," the minister said in a statement released in Berlin.

"There is an urgent need to work together with all our partners to see what contribution the international community can make towards creating the necessary conditions for a ceasefire," he said.

Steinmeier appealed to the warring parties to allow humanitarian supplies into to the Gaza Strip so that food and medicine can be distributed to the population.

Cairo  - Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip is cutting the Arab world to the quick, leaving millions left to seethe with anger and helplessness while their leaders do little or nothing.

From Marrakesh to Damascus, demonstrators have given vent to their outrage and sympathy in a series of protests and donation campaigns on behalf of the Palestinians reeling under Israel's offensive.

Many Arabs feel personally humiliated at the way Israeli forces are acting against their militarily hapless fellow Arabs while, apart from protests and humanitarian aid, Arab leaders have done nothing.

The Arabs know that even the few political means at their disposal count for little because those who have the power to use them are not prepared to do so.

Geneva - A specialist medical team from the International Committee of the Red Cross has been unable to enter the Gaza Strip for the past three days, a spokeswoman for the organization said Sunday.

The team, comprised of two doctors and two nurses, was supposed to enter the enclave on Friday to help the local Palestinian medical staff, who were "exhausted" and having trouble coping with the massive influx of injured people, she said.

Many of the wounds were complicated, requiring outside medical expertise, the spokeswoman said. The team was "badly needed" and their presence in Gaza was "essential."

Tel Aviv  - An Israeli airstrike on the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis Sunday killed two top Hamas militants, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.