The Red Cross has accused Israel of failing to help wounded people in an area of Gaza where its rescuers found four children huddling next to their dead mothers.
The Israeli military 'failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded,' the International Committee of the Red Cross said in an unusually blunt statement.
It said Israeli soldiers tried to force Red Cross personnel to leave when they finally reached the area in Gaza City's battered Zeitun neighbourhood, four days after safe-passage had been requested.
The ICRC said the delay in allowing access to rescuers was unacceptable.
The rescue team, which included members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.
'This is a shocking incident,' said Pierre Wettach, who heads the ICRC delegation for Israel and the Palestinian territories.
'The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestine Red Crescent to assist the wounded.'
The Israeli military did not respond to specific claims, but insisted it works in close cooperation with international aid organisations during the fighting so that civilians can be provided with assistance.
'Any serious allegations made against IDF conduct will need to be investigated properly, once such a complaint is received formally.'
It also stressed Israeli troops were involved in fighting Hamas, which it said was a terrorist organisation which has deliberately used Palestinian civilians as human shields.
Amnesty International has accused both Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters of using civilians as human shields.
UNRWA suspends work in Gaza
A UN aid agency has halted work in Gaza saying staff were at risk from Israeli forces fighting Hamas, after two drivers were killed.
'UNRWA decided to suspend all its operations in the Gaza Strip because of the increasing hostile actions against its premises and personnel,' said Adnan Abu Hasna, a Gaza spokesman for the UN agency.
The decision followed the deaths of two Palestinian forklift drivers in an UNRWA convoy hit by an Israeli tank shell.
All convoys ferrying humanitarian supplies from at least two key crossing points with Israel were suspended after the incident.
Efforts to secure a ceasefire are continuing at the UN headquarters in New York.
Western and Arab foreign ministers have agreed a draft resolution calling for an immediate Gaza ceasefire, and will put the compromise measure to a UN Security Council vote, diplomats said.
Alarmed by conditions for 1.5m Palestinians in overcrowded Gaza, the US, Britain and France dropped objections to a binding UN resolution on the crisis and worked on getting an immediate ceasefire resolution.
Arab countries have insisted that the 15-nation Security Council must issue a binding resolution.
Israel has opposed the idea of a binding UN resolution.
Rockets fired from Lebanon hit Israel
Several rockets fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel this morning, prompting fears of a wider conflict.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which came as Israel pushed on with its 13-day-old offensive on Gaza.
Israel retaliated with artillery rounds directed at the location from where the rockets were fired.
UN troops deployed in the south of Lebanon have been put on alert and the Lebanese government has called for an inquiry into who fired across the frontier.
UNIFIL has some 13,000 troops stationed in southern Lebanon.
Residents of southern Lebanon have also begun to leave the area after Israel responded to the early morning fire.
Hezbollah has denied that it was responsible and issued a statement, saying it was 'committed to stability'.
The last time rockets from Lebanon in northern Israel was on 17 June 2007 hitting the northern town of Kiryat Shmona, causing minor damage and no injuries.
Israel and Hezbollah militia fought a 34-day war in 2006, after Hezbollah militants seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.
The war killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Gaza fighting
Palestinian fighters killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded several more in clashes and rocket attacks on Israel, the military said.
Ten Israeli soldiers have now been killed in combat in Gaza and by rocket strikes from the territory since the launch of Operation Cast Lead on 27 December.
One officer was killed in a clash 'during the firing of an anti-tank shell in the central Gaza Strip,' a spokesman said.
The second soldier was shot dead in northern Gaza and another soldier was slightly injured.
Israeli aircraft have again bombed targets across Gaza as its tanks advanced in the Hamas-ruled territory. As the fighting continues, US backing for a truce proposal has raised expectations of an end to the onslaught.
However, residents in Gaza described the overnight bombardment to the east of the city as among the heaviest in the offensive.
In the south of the territory tanks have advanced closer to the town of Khan Younis.
Although Israel pressed on with the offensive, it said last night that it accepted the 'principles' of a European-Egyptian ceasefire proposal.
The US urged Israel to study the plan.
Israeli minister criticises Irish Government
A senior Israeli cabinet member has criticised the Irish Government for what he described as its one-sided condemnation of Israel's offensive against Hamas.
Isaac Herzog said he was personally offended by the Government's comments.
He said 'I would expect them to understand where we are, to understand that any democratically elected government needs to defend its people.'
Mr Herzog is the son of Chaim Herzog, the Irish-born former president of Israel, and the grandson of Isaac Herzog, the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and the first Chief Rabbi of the new Israeli state.
He is the Israeli Minister for Welfare and an influential member of Israel's security cabinet.
In an interview with RTÉ, he referred to unspecified condemnation of Israel's actions by Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin.
'Where was the Irish Government in these comments, why did we have to read only Israel is to blame, and [no criticism] of Hamas and its influence in the region and its fundamentalist and fanatical hatred of Israel,' he said.
He said he took note of the comments and, with due respect, resented them, adding that the EU had declared Hamas a terrorist organisation.
Go inside Gaza's media war in this special feature by correspondent Tony Connelly
