Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (r) meets with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Cairo, Egypt, 14 Jan 2009

Diplomatic efforts to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza continued Tuesday as the death toll among Palestinians grew to more than 1,000. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon opened his diplomatic trip to the region with a stop in Egypt, where he renewed his call for an "immediate and durable" ceasefire in Gaza.

Nineteen days into the offensive and the fighting shows no sign of letting up.

Israeli aircraft attacked about 60 targets, overnight, including the Hamas police headquarters in Gaza City. Plumes of smoke from bombs, shells and explosions were again visible over Gaza.

Reporting from Gaza city for VOA is Palestinian journalist Mohammed Dawwas.

"In the morning it was a bit quiet, but then the whole thing started to change when they bombarded a cemetery and the Gaza central park, the municipal park, which is the largest in Gaza City. Gaza was full of white smoke," he said. "It covered Gaza from these strikes."

A Palestinian man calls for help as smoke rises from a window following an explosion caused by Israeli military operations in Gaza City, 14 Jan 2009

Dawwas lives in the center of Gaza City. He says he could not see Israeli troops, but could hear shooting and shelling.

"They [the Israeli troops] are not really far from the center," said Dawwas. "They're on the edges of southern Gaza [city], on the edges of northern Gaza. It looks like they're besieging Gaza from every place. There are battles on the ground, battles between them [the Israelis] and Hamas groups, Islamic Jihad groups, these guys."

Israel's military says more work lies ahead to complete the mission of halting Hamas rocket fire into southern Israel.

Militants in Gaza fired several rockets into Israel Wednesday.

Several rockets also hit northern Israel from neighboring Lebanon, landing near Kiriyat Shmona. No casualties were reported and there was no immediate claim of responsibility. It was the second such attack in a week and Israel responded with artillery fire.

Humanitarian workers continue to warn of a catastrophe. The head of the International Committee for the Red Cross visited Gaza, Tuesday, and said he was shocked by what he saw. He urged both sides to spare civilians and let emergency personnel carry out their work.