It will be the first top level meeting of the diplomatic Quartet in six months. 
 
 Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend the meeting at UN headquarters in New York. 
 
 EU foreign affairs representative Baroness Ashton will take part by videoconference, diplomats said. 
 
 Mrs Clinton, Mr Lavrov and Mr Ban will then join a UN Security Council debate on the Arab Spring. 
 
 A wounded Palestinian boy is wheeled into a hospital in Gaza City after an Israeli air strike (REUTERS/Ahmed Zakot) 
 
 Israel's air force pounded Gaza overnight with a series of raids which killed three people, raising the death toll to 21 in a wave of tit-for-tat violence that began with Israel's killing of a senior militant on Friday. 
 
 The fresh attacks prompted China calling on Israel toh alt its raids. 
 
 "China is concerned about the escalation of the situation in Gaza," a foreign ministry spokesman said. 
 
 "We call upon the Israeli side to stop air raids against Gaza. We hope parties concerned can stop firing immediately in order to avoid casualties of innocent civilians." 
 
 Wounded Palestinian children receive medical atttention at a hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip following an Israeli air raid (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 Israel said Palestinian militants had fired a total of 180 rockets from the impoverished territory since the violence erupted, leaving four Israelis wounded. 
 
 On Sunday, Israel called on the UN Security Council to take action over the rocket assault. 
 
 It criticised the low-key international response to attacks from Gaza and warned in a letter signed by Israeli deputy UN Ambassador Haim Waxman that it would take "all necessary measures" to protect civilians. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said the Security Council must "act with urgency to address this crisis" accusing Israel of staging an "escalation of deadly violence and terror". 
 
 He said women and children were among "dozens" of wounded and the dead also included a farmer killed while working in his field. 
 
 Talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been frozen since September 2010 and the decades-old conflict has become overshadowed by the uprising in neighbouring Syria. Quartet efforts to revive the talks have come to nothing. 
 
 Angered by Israel's settlement construction in the occupied territories, the Palestinian leadership has stepped up efforts to bring the international spotlight back on their demands for an independent state. 
 
 At the UN General Assembly last September, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, made a high profile application for full Palestinian membership of the global body. But the United States has threatened to veto any recommendation for membership made by the UN Security Council. 
 
 The United States and Israel say only direct talks can produce an accord that will set up a new state. 
 
 The same day as Abbas made his bid at the UN, the Quartet launched a new initiative to press the two sides back into talks, setting a timetable for Palestinians and Israelis to make proposals on the borders and security for a new Palestinian state. 
 
 Preliminary contacts in Jordan in January failed to get agreement on new direct talks however. 
 
 The Palestinians last year won membership of UNESCO and say they could seek seats with other international agencies. But other measures to increase international recognition and draw attention to the conflict have failed. 
 
 Using its powers as a permanent member of the Security Council, the United States last year vetoed a resolution condemning Israeli settlements which the UN and all major powers consider illegal. 
 
 The Palestinians last month invited the Security Council to visit the Palestinian territories. The United States has led resistance to that idea. Many observers say there is no prospect for a breakthrough until after the US presidential election in November. 
 
 The Quartet held its last top-level meeting at the UN General Assembly in September. 
 
 Source: AFP ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Yolande Knell at the scene in Gaza says Mohammed Deif has "long been on Israel's most wanted list" 
 
 Hamas says the wife and child of its military commander, Mohammed Deif, have been killed in an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip. 
 
 At least 19 Palestinians have died since hostilities resumed on Tuesday, with both sides blaming each other for the collapse of the Cairo peace talks. 
 
 The Israeli military said it had carried out 92 air strikes in response to 137 rockets fired at its territory. 
 
 Six weeks of fierce fighting have left at least 2,103 people dead. 
 
 Egypt has expressed "profound regret" at the end of the 10-day period of calm and said it will continue trying to secure a lasting truce. 
 
 Bomb shelters 
 
 It is believed the air strike on a house in Gaza City late on Tuesday that killed Mohammed Deif's wife and their young son was intended to kill the militant himself, reports the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem. 
 
 A Hamas official told the AFP news agency that Mr Deif was "still alive and leading the military operation" against Israel. 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Mourners carry the body of Mohammed Deif's wife, Widad Mustafa, at the beginning of the funeral procession 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Thousands joined the procession on the streets of Gaza, with some chanting "Revenge, revenge, revenge!" 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Accusing Israel of opening a "gateway to hell", Hamas fired rockets at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem 
 
 The commander of Hamas' armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has survived a number of previous Israeli assassination attempts believed to have left him with severe disabilities. 
 
 Israeli Interior Minister Gideon Saar said the attack was justified because Mr Deif was "personally responsible" for dozens of deaths. 
 
 Yaakov Perry, Israel's science minister and former security service chief, said he was "convinced that if there was intelligence that [he] was not inside the home, then we would not have bombed it". 
 
 Rescue workers later pulled out of the remains of the house the bodies of three members of the family that lived there, medics said. 
 
 Kevin Connolly, BBC News, Jerusalem 
 
 No-one is rushing to make an official declaration that the Cairo peace talks are dead but it is hard to see what could now bring them back to life. 
 
 Hamas blames Israel for the end of the ceasefire just as Israel blames Hamas - the one point of agreement between them appears to be that the time for talking has gone at least for now. 
 
 Any diplomatic failure in the Middle East can be explained by the formula that the maximum one side was prepared to offer was less than the minimum that the other side was prepared to accept. Never has it been truer than it is now. 
 
 Both sides went in to this round of negotiations with what diplomats would call maximalist positions - Hamas demanding an opening of Gaza's borders, Israel aspiring to the demilitarisation of Gaza. 
 
 But neither side can afford to allow any concessions which might be portrayed as a victory for the other. In neither society would public opinion stand for it. 
 
 That is a recipe for stalemate - and at times of stalemate both sides are inclined to turn back to their weapons of war. 
 
 There were further Israeli air strikes on Gaza on Wednesday which, according to local medics, killed a heavily pregnant woman and several children. 
 
 Our correspondent says the apparent attempt to kill Mohammed Deif may explain the intensity of the rocket fire that came after the collapse of the Cairo peace talks. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced by the conflict 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Israeli army tanks remain deployed along the frontier with Gaza 
 
 Air-raid sirens sounded in many towns and cities in southern and central Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as 50 rockets were launched on Tuesday and 30 on Wednesday. 
 
 'Gravely disappointed' 
 
 The Israeli government accused Hamas of breaking the ceasefire by launching a salvo of rockets about eight hours before it was to have expired, and told its delegation in Cairo to return home shortly afterwards. 
 
 Palestinian negotiators blamed Israel for the failure of the indirect talks. 
 
 "Israel thwarted the contacts that could have brought peace," said Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior member of the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. 
 
 However, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev rejected the accusation, saying rockets from Gaza were "a clear violation of the ceasefire" and "destroyed the premise upon which the talks were based." 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Palestinian negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed accused Israel of trying to force its position 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev: "A ceasefire has to be a two-way street" 
 
 Israel has been seeking guarantees that Hamas and other factions in Gaza would be disarmed, while the Palestinians were demanding an end to the Israeli and Egyptian blockades of Gaza, and the establishment of a seaport and airport. 
 
 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "gravely disappointed by the return to hostilities". 
 
 Meanwhile, human rights groups have called on Israel to allow them into Gaza so they can investigate allegations of violations of international humanitarian law by both sides. 
 
 In a joint statement, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch accused Israel of "playing bureaucratic games" with them by continually denying the groups' requests to cross the border. 
 
 Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on 8 July with the aim of ending Hamas rocket fire. It also sought to destroy tunnels dug under the frontier with Israel used by militants to launch attack. 
 
 Since then, at least 2,036 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The Israeli authorities say 64 Israeli soldiers have been killed, along with two Israeli civilians and a Thai national. 
 
 Image copyright AFP 
 
 Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif ||||| UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has arrived in Israel and is set to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the crisis in Gaza. 
 
 Earlier on Tuesday, Ban met the Arab League chief, Nabil el-Araby, in Cairo and called for support for Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's efforts to mediate a truce in the conflict as the Palestinian death toll from Israeli raids reached 121. 
 
 Egypt has been trying to negotiate a ceasefire with the help of Qatar and Turkey. 
 
 Al Jazeera's Peter Greste, reporting from Cairo, said: "There is a momentum towards a ceasefire agreement, according to the Egyptians." 
 
 "Ban Ki-moon would not be going to Israel and the West Bank if he felt something could not be achieved," said Greste. 
 
 The content of the Egyptian plan is not known, but both Israel and Hamas have presented conditions. 
 
 With Ban pushing for a ceasefire, Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader, said his movement was committed to efforts to secure a truce, but insisted that Israel must lift its six-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has left the territory deprived of a much needed economic boost. 
 
 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will also visit Israel, Egypt and the occupied West Bank, as the United States is pushing to avoid an escalation of the Gaza crisis. 
 
 Clinton will meet Netanyahu and then discuss the crisis with Egyptian and Palestinian leaders, but she will not be meeting Hamas officials in Gaza and Cairo. 
 
 Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and various Arab foreign ministers are also expected to visit Gaza on Tuesday to show solidarity with the people of Gaza. 
 
 "A decision was taken that for the time being there is a temporary hold on the ground incursion to give diplomacy a chance to succeed," Netanyahu's spokesperson told the AFP news agency. Ministers in Netanyahu's inner circle, known as the the Forum of Nine also held lengthy talks on whether to agree to a ceasefire or expand the air and naval campaign into a ground operation. 
 
 Overnight attacks 
 
 Palestinian family killed buried in Gaza 
 
 Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip have continued for the seventh day, despite calls for a truce, with missile strikes killing five in Gaza on Tuesday. 
 
 Al Jazeera's Nour Samaha, reporting from Gaza, said that Israel is dropping flyers on northern Gaza warning residents of a ground invasion. 
 
 Ban had said that an Israeli ground operation into Gaza would be a "dangerous escalation". 
 
 In the latest Israeli air strike early on Tuesday morning, at least four people were injured when F-16 fighter jets hit the Islamic National Bank in Gaza City, which is located in a residential area. 
 
 The AFP news agency reported that a rocket fired from Gaza struck an open area near Jerusalem. 
 
 More than 30 people were killed in Gaza on Monday. In one attack, two boys, aged two and four, and their parents were killed in Jabaliya refugee camp late in the evening. More than a dozen people were injured, mostly women and children. 
 
 The Israeli military has struck more than 1,350 targets in Gaza since attacks began on Wednesday, Israel says it launched the operation to deter Palestinian fighters from launching rockets into its territory. 
 
 Since then, 640 rockets have hit Israel while more than 300 others have been intercepted by Israel's anti-missile system, the Iron Dome, according to the Israeli army. Three Israeli civilians died on Thursday in a rocket strike. 
 
 The Israeli military said that 67 rockets had been fired at the country on Monday, and that three Israelis had been wounded. 
 
 Many residents of southern Israel have left the area and schools have been closed since the start of the crisis. 
 
 Gaza visit 
 
 El-Araby is also due in Gaza on Tuesday, accompanied by Davutoglu and several Arab top diplomats, in the latest in a series of visits that have eased the long diplomatic isolation of the territory's Hamas rulers. 
 
 Israel has its own demands, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman insisting "the first and absolute condition for 
 
 a truce is stopping all fire from Gaza." 
 
 Hamas is also understood to be seeking guarantees Israel will stop its targeted killings, such as the one that killed a top military commander on Wednesday. 
 
 Meshaal, the Hamas leader, said on Monday his group was committed to efforts to secure a truce, but insisted that Israel must lift its six-year blockade of the Gaza Strip. 
 
 "We are not against a calming, but we want our demands ... to end the thuggery, to end the aggression and to lift the blockade," he said, adding that Hamas would reject any Israeli preconditions for a ceasefire because "they started the aggression".
– With 23 Palestinians now dead in the latest Gaza conflict, the Middle East Quartet is meeting for the first time in six months in New York. Hillary Clinton, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and EU diplomat Baroness Ashton will discuss the growing violence after Israeli air raids killed five more people, including three civilians and a pair of militants. Israel yesterday sought UN Security Council action over rocket attacks from Gaza. China has also weighed in on the situation, calling on Israel to halt its air raids, the Telegraph notes. Iran has labeled the raids "war crimes," urging international condemnation against the "abhorrent violation of human rights." Among the reported dead today was a 15-year-old boy, CNN reports, though Israel said it did not bomb the area where he was killed. For its part, Israel says its attacks "destroyed launching pits" for Iranian-built rockets. Some 31 more rockets were launched from Gaza today, bringing the total to more than 200, according to the Jerusalem Post.