New York  - The United Nations Security Council was due to begin meeting late Saturday at UN headquarters in New York to discuss the Mideast conflict, hours after Israeli troops launched a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip.

Details of the hastily arranged, closed-door meeting were not available.

The Security Council has been unable to reach agreement on the violence since an Israeli bombing campaign began on December 27, in response to stepped up rocket fire toward southern Israel by Gaza militants.

Amman  - Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir on Saturday summoned ambassadors of the five UN Security Council veto powers and urged the world community "to shoulder its responsibilities" in forcing Israel to stop its military escalation on the Gaza Strip.

Bashir urged the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China to "move promptly to stop the Israeli aggression and violations which so far killed a large number of Palestinians," the official Petra news agency said.

"Jordan condemns this unjustified military escalation," the minister said after the launch of an Israeli land offensive after eight days of aerial strikes.

Ramallah  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Saturday for the United Nations Security Council to hold an urgent meeting to stop the Israeli air and ground offensives on the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement that Abbas called on the Security Council to convene immediately "to halt and stop the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip."

"President Abbas intensified his contacts with Arab and foreign countries to stop the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip without any preconditions," Erekat said.

Beirut  - The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah called late Saturday on Hamas to "defeat Israel and kill as many Israeli soldiers as they can."

"Hamas will defeat Israel in ground attack," Hezbollah chief told his followers in Beirut's southern suburbs during the Shiite religious ceremony of Ashoura.

Nasrallah urged Hamas to inflict heavy losses on the Israeli soldiers who launched a ground operation in the Gaza Strip after eight days of attacks by air and sea on the region.

"It is by inflicting the biggest possible losses on the Israeli enemy during the ground confrontation that (Hamas) will win the battle," Nasrallah told an Ashoura gathering.

Gaza  - The Islamic Hamas movement warned Israel Saturday night that by sending ground troops into the Gaza Strip it was falling into "the trap that our fighters had prepared for its soldiers and t

Tel Aviv/Gaza  - Israel launched its long-expected ground invasion of the Gaza Strip Saturday night, as infantry and armour, backed by air support, moved into the north of the salient after an artillery barrage lasting hours.

An Israeli military spokesman said the ground operation was the second stage of the Israeli offensive which began last Saturday, and was intended to destroy Hamas installations in the area of operations, and to lower the number of rockets being fired at Israel.

Hamas militants opened fire on the Israelis as they advanced into the Strip. There were no immediate reports of casualties.