Cairo - Hamas will not accept a ceasefire with Israel unless all aggression against the Gaza Strip is halted, a Hamas spokesman said Tuesday.

The Lebanon-based Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the Hamas delegation in Cairo focused on achieving a halt of all aggression, then a ceasefire might be negotiated.

A Hamas delegation arrived late on Monday in Cairo to hold the first round of talks since the launch of Israeli military action in Gaza last month.

Tel Aviv  -  Palestinian militants fired mortar shells from the UN school in northern Gaza which was shelled by Israel and which killed more than 46 civilians, a military spokesman in Tel Aviv charged.

He said Israeli ground troops stationed on the outskirts of the Jabaliya refugee camp responded by firing mortar shells in the direction of the militants.

"This is not the first time that Palestinian militants have fired from within UN schools," he said.

Gaza City - At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in heavy ground fighting and Israeli air attacks overnight and Tuesday morning, raising the total Palestinian death toll of Israel's Gaza offensive to 573 by late Tuesday morning, health officials said.

The injury toll stands at 2,600, Gaza emergency services chief Mo'aweya Hassanein told reporters in Gaza.

Tel Aviv -

Tel Aviv/Gaza - Three Israeli soldiers were killed and 24 injured overnight by friendly fire, the Israeli military confirmed Tuesday.

An Israeli tank fired a shell by mistake at a building in which the soldiers had taken cover during fighting with armed Palestinians, a military spokeswoman said. One of the injured soldiers was in critical conditions and three others in serious condition, she said.

The incident raised the Israeli death toll in the ground offensive begun Saturday to four soldiers.

Bangkok  - Hundreds of Thai Muslims on Tuesday staged a second day of demonstrations outside the Israeli embassy to Bangkok, warning of "unexpected" incidents around the world unless Israel ceases its attack and occupation of the Gaza Strip.

About 700 members of the Muslim Group for Peace rallied in front of the embassy wearing "Stop Gaza Slaughter" T-shirts and waving banners reading "Boycott Israel" and "Israel is the Real Terrorist."