A Palestinian surveys damage at the office of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh after it was hit by an Israeli missile in Gaza City on Wednesday. (Hatem Moussa/Associated Press)

Israel's cabinet gave the country's military the green light to launch a ground offensive into Gaza, Israeli media reported early Thursday, as its campaign against militant group Hamas in the Palestinian territory prepared to enter its sixth day.

Israel has been massing troops and armoured vehicles along the border for several days, creating speculation the offensive may move at any moment from an air campaign into a ground operation.

Israeli soldiers clean the barrel of a tank at a staging area on the Israel-Gaza border on Wednesday. (Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Press)Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the Israeli military's general staff recommended a "major, but relatively short-term" ground offensive.

Earlier Wednesday, Israeli and Hamas leaders rejected a French call for a 48-hour ceasefire that would have allowed more humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip.

The proposal was a "Band-Aid solution," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"Giving Hamas a respite just to regroup, rearm is a mistake," Regev said. "The pressure on the Hamas military machine must continue."

Meanwhile, in a suppertime address on Palestinian television, West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened to abandon peace talks with Israel over the bombing campaign, which he condemned as a "barbaric and criminal aggression."

“Why would we continue with these negotiations?" said Abbas, a Hamas rival whose moderate Fatah movement lost authority in Gaza after Hamas took control of the coastal territory by force in June 2007.

"We will not hesitate to end them if they continue to be a cover for Israeli aggression.”

Security Council debate ends without vote

Meanwhile, an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council adjourned on Wednesday night without voting on a draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, according to diplomats.

The resolution presented by Libya on behalf of Arab League countries was immediately rejected by the United States as "unbalanced" and "one-sided" because it makes no mention of halting the Hamas rocket attacks that led to the Israeli offensive.

Libya is the only Arab nation currently sitting on the 15-member council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security.

The draft resolution was not made public, but a copy obtained by Reuters called for protection of Palestinian civilians and opening of border crossings into Gaza. The resolution also denounced "excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate" use of force by Israel, but only vaguely mentioned rocket attacks launched by Palestinians.

The security council will likely not vote on the resolution for a few days.

"It's going to need a lot of work," one Western diplomat said.

Israeli air force says bombed mosque used for rocket storage

The fifth day of attacks saw Israel launching more air strikes in the region, sending jets and assault helicopters to attack targets in Gaza on Wednesday after the proposed ceasefire was rejected.

The Israeli air force provided aerial video footage late Wednesday of what it said was the bombing of a mosque in the southern Gaza Strip that Hamas was using as a rocket storage facility. There were no immediate reports of casualties and no Palestinian comment on the air strike.

The video footage, posted on Israeli media websites, showed a wedge-shaped building exploding, followed by a larger secondary blast that sent a fireball into the sky.

The day began with Israeli aircraft pounding smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border in an attempt to stop the flow of goods and weapons to Hamas. The strikes set off a huge explosion of fuel in a tunnel, witnesses said.

Israeli aircraft also continued to bomb government buildings in Gaza City, including the office of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, witnesses said.

Haaretz reported Palestinian sources said a Palestinian medic was killed and two others wounded when an Israeli missile struck next to their ambulance east of Gaza City. The Israeli military said it did not know of the incident.

Hamas PM: 'victory is near'

In a televised address to Palestinians, the Hamas prime minister said Israel must end its air strikes and open border crossings before Hamas will consider a truce.

Haniyeh also told Palestinians that "victory is near."

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes said the death toll is estimated at between 320 and 390 people, with another 1,500 to 1,900 people injured. Between 20 per cent and 25 per cent of the dead are either women or children, said Karen Abu Zayd, UN Relief and Works Agency commissioner.

Palestinian officials said the death toll in Gaza has reached at least 390 and 1,600 have been wounded. The UN has said at least 60 Palestinian civilians are among the dead.

Four Israelis have also been killed since the offensive began on Saturday, according to officials.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office on Wednesday confirmed earlier reports he will travel to the Middle East next week to discuss the conflict.

Sarkozy, whose country holds the European Union presidency until the end of 2008, will meet Monday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo and Abbas in Ramallah before dining with Olmert in Jerusalem.

On Tuesday, he will travel to Syria and Lebanon for more talks.

France has been vocal in the diplomatic push for peace in Gaza and chaired an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in Paris on Tuesday to discuss solutions to the conflict.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner initially proposed the ceasefire, which Israel rejected following a late-night meeting.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said the French proposal, as currently crafted, was not realistic because it lacked explicit guarantees to ensure Hamas would stop firing rockets and be unable to smuggle in more arms.

Hamas creating shortages: Israeli military

An Israeli soldier is seen at a staging area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, on Wednesday. (Ariel Schalit/Associated Press)

While rejecting the truce, Israel said it would allow 2,000 tonnes of food and medical supplies to enter Gaza on Wednesday, in addition to 4,000 tonnes the military said has been allowed in since the offensive began.

Several dozen chronically ill Gazans were also authorized to enter Israel for treatment Wednesday, the military said.

The UN planned to resume food aid distribution on Thursday, after halting it two weeks ago because of shortages caused by the blockade. Most of Gaza's 1.4 million residents rely on UN food handouts.

But Israeli military officials on Wednesday accused Hamas of deliberately manufacturing food and medical supply shortages for its own political purposes.

Offensive followed rocket attacks

Israel began its air strike campaign Saturday after Hamas stepped up rocket attacks following the expiration of a six-month ceasefire between the two sides last week.

Yuval Diskin, the chief of Israel's internal security services, told cabinet ministers Wednesday that Hamas's ability to rule has been badly impaired.

Weapons development facilities have been wiped out, and the network of smuggling tunnels has been damaged, according to a meeting participant, speaking on condition of anonymity.'

But despite Diskin's assessment, some 70 rockets were reported fired from Gaza into Israel on Wednesday.

The European Union has urged a truce, as have the United States, the United Nations and Russia, the four members of the quartet of Mideast negotiators.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to meet with Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Jordan on Wednesday to discuss a ceasefire. He will also meet with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is also expected to travel Thursday to Paris for talks with Sarkozy.

Since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of full military occupation, Israeli forces have repeatedly launched incursions to the territory to hunt militants and attempt to curb rocket attacks, but have stopped short of a full-fledged invasion.

Israel has said the goal of the operation is to stop Iranian-backed Hamas from launching rocket attacks on Israel's civilian population.

The Israeli government approved a call for another 2,500 reserve soldiers late Tuesday. Earlier in the week, 6,700 reservists had already been authorized for call-up.

Missile range increasing

The range of the missiles being used by the militants in Gaza is increasing. Two missiles hit the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Wednesday, about 45 kilometres from Gaza.

More than 10 per cent of Israel's population is now believed to be within range of Hamas rockets.

Although Hamas leaders have been driven underground, spokesman Taher Nunu said the Gaza government was functioning and had met over the past few days.

Israel has kept one humanitarian crossing open. Gaza border official Raed Fattouh said Israel informed him that more than 100 aid trucks were due to cross Wednesday, following a similar number Tuesday.

With files from the Associated Press