Media caption BBC's Jeremy Bowen: "Civilians on both sides need a ceasefire" 
 
 Israel has put plans for a ground operation in Gaza "on hold" to give talks to secure a truce with Hamas militants a chance, officials say. 
 
 It is understood Israel has set a Thursday deadline for the Egypt-brokered talks to succeed. 
 
 The conflict began last Wednesday when Israel killed a top Hamas military commander, saying it wanted to end rocket attacks on its soil. 
 
 More than 110 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed so far. 
 
 Tuesday has seen a reduced level of violence, correspondents say, even though Israel has conducted some strikes - one was a "direct hit" on two militants in northern Gaza, the Israeli military said. 
 
 And rockets have been fired towards Israel - mainly targeting the south. However, two landed in an open area near Jerusalem, causing no injuries or damage. 
 
 Talk of war 
 
 Officials are due to restart talks in Cairo, and Egyptian officials have told the BBC there are signs of progress. 
 
 Media caption UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: "Families and children are dying as a result of senseless violence'' 
 
 Israeli troops are massed along the border, raising fears of a ground offensive similar to that of 2008-09. 
 
 An Israeli spokesman told the BBC: "Israel wants talks to succeed but we're prepared to go into Gaza". 
 
 In a rare appearance, top Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif said Palestinians should prepare for a ground offensive, but warned: "The enemy will pay a heavy price if it thinks of entering Gaza." 
 
 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due in Israel for crisis talks. 
 
 Mrs Clinton was going to underline that "the best way to solve this is through diplomacy, so that you have a peaceful settlement that ends that rocket fire and allows for a broader calm in the region", said Mr Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser, Ben Rhodes. 
 
 During the night, the Israeli military said it had carried out about 100 strikes mainly on smuggling tunnels and underground rocket-launching facilities. Hamas officials say seven people were killed. 
 
 A father and his two sons - thought to be two and four - were among those killed overnight, Hamas health ministry officials said. 
 
 More than 60 rockets have been fired from Gaza toward Israel so far on Tuesday - some managed to get through Israel's Iron Dome interception system, Israeli officials said. 
 
 A soldier was "moderately wounded" by shrapnel in Eshkol, southern Israel, the army said. 
 
 Regional risk 
 
 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met Arab League Chief Nabil al-Arabi in Cairo on Tuesday, before heading for talks in Israel. 
 
 "I'm here to appeal personally for an end to the violence and to offer my ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire," Mr Ban told a joint news conference in Cairo. 
 
 Mr Ban warned against a ground operation in Gaza. 
 
 "Further escalating the situation will put the entire region at risk," he said. 
 
 Egypt has been trying to broker a ceasefire with the help of Qatar and Turkey. 
 
 Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Arab foreign ministers are expected to visit Gaza on Tuesday. 
 
 Media caption The search for a ceasefire is now urgent 
 
 The UK urged both sides to stop attacks. 
 
 "There is no military solution to the conflict in Gaza," UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said. 
 
 The content of the Egyptian plan is not known, but both Israel and Hamas have presented conditions. 
 
 Israel's demands include no hostile fire of any kind from Gaza and international efforts to prevent Hamas from rearming, while Hamas is demanding an end to the blockade on Gaza and "Israel's assassinations". 
 
 Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, a year after winning a decisive victory in general elections. Israel withdrew from the strip in 2005 but maintains a blockade. 
 
 Israel, as well as the United States and the European Union, regards Hamas as a terrorist organisation. ||||| Story highlights The agreement was reached with the help of Egyptian mediators, the official says 
 
 An Israeli government spokesman did not immedaitely comment on the report 
 
 Seven people were killed Monday in Gaza, officials say 
 
 The U.N. secretary-general says he is "gravely concerned" by the violence 
 
 After days of pounding violence, Palestinian and Israeli authorities have agreed to a truce and to stop all military operations, an Egyptian intelligence official told CNN early Tuesday. 
 
 The agreement was reached with the help of Egyptian mediators, the official said. 
 
 Israeli government spokesman David Baker did not immediately comment on the reported cease-fire. 
 
 Seven people were killed Monday in Gaza, and more than three dozen rockets fell into Israel, the latest events in days of fighting that marked the worst escalation of violence in the coastal territory in months, officials said. 
 
 Israel said its airstrikes have targeted militant rocket launching sites across the Palestinian territory in response to more than 200 rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel since Friday. More than 36 rockets were fired into Israel on Monday, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 
 
 In Gaza, at least 25 people have been killed in strikes since Friday, while at least 80 people have been wounded. 
 
 "When I was sleeping, all of a sudden I found the entire house falling on top of us," Gaza resident Samer Sukar said from a hospital bed. "What can I say? There was no rocket fire from near our house." 
 
 Sukar said he was injured in a blast Monday while he was at home with his wife and six children. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, residents took cover. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Israeli airstrikes target Gaza Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Israeli airstrikes target Gaza 01:53 
 
 "It's a very difficult time for us," said Eti Ifrah, 23. "It's impossible to live like this -- every time we want a shower or anything we're worried a bomb will fall." 
 
 Nearly 1 million people in Israel have sought the safety of shelters during the violence, authorities said. 
 
 The fighting is the worst outbreak of violence in Gaza this year and comes as Israel and the world's attention has been largely focused on Iran and Syria. 
 
 "I am gravely concerned at the latest escalation between Gaza and Israel, and once again civilians are paying a terrible price," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement Monday. "Rocket attacks out of Gaza against Israeli civilian areas are unacceptable and must stop immediately. I reiterate my call on Israel to exercise maximum restraint." 
 
 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told lawmakers Monday that the military "is ready to expand its operations and continue them as necessary." 
 
 "The (Israeli military) is continuing to -- strongly and decisively -- attack the terrorists in the Gaza Strip," he said. "Whoever intends to harm our citizens -- we will strike at him." 
 
 A spokesman for the militant group Islamic Jihad warned Israeli citizens Monday to stay in their bunkers, vowing the group would fire more rockets into southern Israel. 
 
 Speaking at a press conference Monday in Gaza City, Abu Ahmad boasted his group had fired dozens of longer-range Grad rockets into Israel and a larger number of smaller short-range rockets. 
 
 He spoke later to the Islamic Jihad radio station, warning Israel "not to test our patience." 
 
 Twelve Israeli military tanks have moved some 200 meters inside the Gaza border area, according to Palestinian security forces in Gaza. 
 
 Gaza officials cautioned Monday that any further escalation of hostilities would tax the fragile health care system. 
 
 "If we face a new war on Gaza, I am sure the health system will collapse," said Bassem Naim, the minister of health in the Hamas-controlled government. 
 
 Three civilians and four militants were reported killed in Gaza on Monday, but Israeli and Palestinian officials offered different accounts of the violence. 
 
 Palestinian medical officials said an Israeli airstrike killed a civilian man and woman and injured three others Monday afternoon in the northern Gaza neighborhood of Beit Lahia. 
 
 The Israeli military said its strike hit a residential area from which militants fired a rocket. 
 
 "This incident is a blatant example of how terror organizations use human shields to carry out terror attacks from the heart of urban areas and, as occurred in this incident, lead to the apparent injury of uninvolved persons," the military said. 
 
 Israeli and Palestinian officials also offered conflicting accounts of another blast Monday that killed a 15-year-old boy in Gaza. 
 
 Palestinian medical and security sources said an Israeli airstrike killed the teen, but the Israeli military said it did not attack the area where the death was reported. 
 
 "We did not attack during those hours of the morning in the northern Gaza Strip," Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich told CNN, saying that Israeli military activity during the time was focused on southern Gaza. 
 
 "One of the possibilities is that one of the terrorist organizations in Gaza fired a rocket that landed inside Gaza," Leibovich said, noting that some two dozen rockets fired by Palestinians militants in the last four days have landed inside Gaza. 
 
 Two militants also were killed in overnight airstrikes in southern Gaza, Palestinian officials said, and 40 people were injured. Later, Palestinian officials said two more Islamic Jihad militants were killed and a third was injured in an airstrike "east of Gaza." An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was looking into the report. 
 
 The deaths brought the number of Palestinians killed since Friday afternoon to 25, with more than 80 injured, according to Palestinian medical officials. 
 
 Netanyahu suggested Sunday that the new cycle of attacks and counterattacks resulted from a successful Israeli strike on "an arch-terrorist who organized many attacks against the state of Israel." 
 
 "Naturally, this led to another round with the Popular Resistance Committees, Islamic Jihad and other groups," Netanyahu said, naming Palestinian militant groups.
– The Israeli military says it is ordering Palestinians living in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate the area "for their own safety." In a statement today, the military said it would send messages to residents overnight to leave the area. Brig. Gen. Motti Almoz, the chief military spokesman, said Israel planned to hit the area with heavy force in the next 24 hours as it steps up an offensive against Gaza militants. Officials say the area has been used to fire rockets at Tel Aviv. The death toll in Gaza has hit at least 135 and more than 920 have been injured after five days of airstrikes, the Hill reports. Meanwhile, more than 200 rockets fired from Gaza have gotten through Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, and rockets are coming from southern Lebanon as well. Also today, the UN Security Council called today for a cease-fire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict centered on the Gaza Strip. A council statement approved by all 15 members calls for de-escalation of the violence, restoration of calm, and a resumption of direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians aimed at achieving a comprehensive peace agreement based on a two-state solution. The statement calls for "the reinstitution of the November 2012 cease-fire," which was brokered by Egypt, but gives no time frame for when it should take effect. (Click for more on that.)