Amman  - King Abdullah II of Jordan on Tuesday called US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and urged Washington to take "immediate steps" to stop the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, according to a royal court statement.

"The monarch stressed the need for taking immediate and effective steps to halt the aggression as soon as possible and re-open the crossing points to allow the entry of humanitarian and medical aid to the Gaza Strip," the statement said.

Tel Aviv  - France has proposed to Israel to observe a 48-hour unilateral ceasefire to give Hamas, the radical Islamic movement ruling Gaza, a chance to end its rocket attacks, an Israeli defence official said Tuesday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said Israel may debate the proposal in a session of its security cabinet Wednesday.

Tel Aviv  - Israeli fighter jets flew another sortie over the southern Gaza Strip's border with Egypt around sunset Tuesday, bombing a series of smuggling tunnels, military officials said.

Already earlier in its air campaign against Hamas which was launched on Saturday, the Israeli army said it had destroyed as many as 40 tunnels in a matter of minutes as planes dropped bombs on them.

The vast network of tunnels under the border town of Rafah is used to smuggle goods and weapons into the strip, circumventing a tight Israeli blockade.

Gaza/Tel Aviv  - Israel pounded more targets in the Gaza, as a massive military operation aimed at curbing rocket and mortar attacks from the strip entered its fourth day Tuesday.

Palestinians reported at least 10 dead in the latest strikes, bringing the death toll of Operation Cast Lead to at least 360, with more than 1,600 injured.

But a defiant Hamas, three days into the offensive and showing that it still had long-range rockets in its arsenal, stepped up its own attacks reaching deeper into Israel than had previously been targeted.

Singapore  - Expressing concern over the continuing bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Singapore urged Israel and Hamas to exercise restraint and renew a truce that ended December 19.

"We are deeply concerned about the situation in Gaza with mounting civilian casualties and the possibility of a humanitarian catastrophe," the Singapore Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"We urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint and work towards an early re-establishment of the ceasefire," it said.

Washington, Dec 29 : In a statement given to a news channel, Obama's senior White House advisor David Axelrod has said that the renewed conflict in the Mideast is now a major agenda item for the President-elect, who is committed to peace in the region.

Speaking on CBS News' `Face the Nation', Axelrod told guest host Chip Reid that Barrack Obama "recognizes the special relationship between the United States and Israel", and that he wants to help bring about peace.