Gaza City - After 10 days of incessant Israeli airstrikes and two days of ground fighting, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is quickly worsening according to residents.

Residents of Gaza City, who have been without electricity for days, say they have only small amounts of drinking water. With even candles now a scarce commodity, Gaza City residents sit in the dark - many of them in winter coats as they keep windows open to avoid glass shards flying inside their homes from a possible nearby blast.

Washington - The United States is pushing for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that would require Hamas to halt rocket attacks into Israel but would also open crossings into the isolated enclave, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to more than a dozen counterparts over the weekend seeking support for the proposal, which would also address tunnels used by Hamas to smuggle weapons from Egypt, McCormack said.

Gaza/Tel Aviv  - Israel pounded Gaza from the air, sea and ground on the second full day of its ground offensive Monday, and Israeli leaders said the offensive will continue until the country's aims are met.

Palestinians said Israeli shelling had killed at least 24 Gazan civilians in the Strip, 13 of them children of two families

The Israeli army refused to give updated casualty figures from the day's fighting, saying a toll would only be released once a day, in the evening.

Dhaka  - Bangladesh's prime minister-in-waiting, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, Monday condemned Israel's military aggression in the Gaza Strip and called on Muslim leaders to help stop the attacks.

"Muslim states should do whatever possible to relieve the distressed Palestinians under the circumstances," Hasina was quoted as saying by an aide after a group of Middle East envoys called on the newly elected leader.

Bangkok  - Hundreds of Thai Muslims demonstrated Monday in front of Israel's embassy in Bangkok, waving banners, burning the Israeli flag and slingshotting balls of protest statements at the premises in reaction to Tel Aviv's invasion of Gaza.

About 400 members of the Muslim Group for Peace rallied in front of the embassy waving banners reading "Destroy Israel," "Stop the bloodshed," "Free Gaza" and "Where is the UN?"