Israeli forces have once again clashed with Hamas fighters in southern Gaza tonight after Israeli tanks entered Palestinian territory.
Hamas has been firing rockets for the past three days into the Gaza Strip, and according to Palestinain journalist Sameh Habeeb, there will not be a cease fire anytime soon.
President Bush has said that he is still optimistic there will be a Middle East peace deal before he leaves office, and he is hoping the visit of Condoleezza Rice will help speed up peace talks and an eventual ceasefire.
News from the Gaza strip however is a lot less promising, despite President Bush's positive words.

He said there was "plenty of time to get a deal done" in the 10 months left.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas broke off contacts with Israel at the weekend after its recent military offensive in Gaza killed more than 120 Palestinians.

Shortly after Mr Bush spoke, Israeli tanks entered Gaza, sparking clashes that killed a one-month-old baby girl.

Witnesses said Palestinian militants exchanged fire with Israeli ground forces when they moved into an area east of the central town of Deir al-Balah and surrounded the house of an Islamic Jihad militant.

Once the soldiers had withdrawn, the baby girl was found dead in the house next door to the one that had been targeted, they added.

The Israeli military said the incursion, the first since its troops withdrew from the coastal territory overnight on Sunday, was a "pinpoint" operation targeting militants.

Earlier, a rocket hit the nearby Israeli town of Sderot, causing damage in a residential area. Israeli forces launched several air and ground strikes on rocket squads and Hamas installations in retaliation, killing at least two militants.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Mr. Habeeb, who is also an international NGO officer, tells a different story however. When speaking to him on the phone earlier, planes could be heard flying overhead in preparation for another attack.
"The situation here is desperate" says Mr. Habeeb, "and life has become so hard for everyone living here. There is not enough power or medical supplies for everyone here now," he says, "and 100,000 people are packed into a one and a half kilometre area, that if a bomb or missile was to hit them, the loss of life would be so great."
Mr. Habeeb told me that three Palestinians were killed earlier today in an Israeli air raid and that Hamas threatens to continue fighting, even after the death toll has already risen to 120 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children.
He went on to say that the visit of Condoleezza Rice has put a lot of pressure on Israel to stop the fighting, but it has not stopped completely.

Ms Rice also insisted she was confident peace was still achievable this year.

Her optimism was not shared by Mr Abbas, however, who said progress could only be made if a comprehensive ceasefire was agreed, a suggestion he has made before but which has been rejected by the Israeli government.

"I call on the Israeli government to halt its aggression so the necessary environment can be created to make negotiations succeed, for us and for them, to reach the shores of peace in 2008," he told reporters in Ramallah.

Mr Abbas said no-one could justify the killings of dozens of civilians, including more than 20 children, in the Gaza Strip during Israel's recent five-day offensive, which was launched in an attempt to suppress rocket fire by militants there.

"It has always been our conviction that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be achieved through violence or counter-violence, but through negotiations with terms of reference and international support," he added.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

When I spoke to Mr. Habeeb earlier today he told me that Israeli forces were waiting on the border of the Palestinian territory, waitng for their orders when to advance.
"I just think about the children," says Mr. Habeeb, "I am used to this kind of violence now, and I am a lot older, but children who are only three or four, they are the real victims and they don't know a life that is any different from this one."
"We need peace," says Mr. Habeeb, "but it will not be achieved while so many people continue to die."