Athens/Nicosia  - A boat carrying international peace activists and medical supplies for the embattled Gaza Strip left the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Monday after a similar effort to deliver aid was thwarted by Israel last month.

A representative for the Greek-flagged Arion vessel, with 30 peace activists from the US "Free Gaza" group, 15 doctors and European parliamentarians, said it would attempt to break through the Israeli blockade and enter Gaza carrying relief supplies.

"We know it is difficult to break through the blockade. We must try however, because of the dramatic situation to reach Gaza. We hope to reach there on Tuesday by noon," Greek Cypriot parliamentarian Sofia Sakorafa said in a radio interview.

Gaza  - As Israel's campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip enters its third week, the situation of the Islamist organization is coming under increasing scrutiny.

Externally, and outwardly, Hamas becomes more popular with each Israeli strike, with huge rallies in support of it taking place throughout the world.

The Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is the Palestinian offshoot, has also enlisted residents of Arab countries to telephone Gazans to boost their morale.

The reality, say Gazans closer to the fighting, is far more complex, and reflects the dilemmas the movement finds itself in, divided between the political leaders in the Gaza Strip on the one hand, and the military wing and the Hamas leaders in exile on the other.

Oslo  - Two Norwegian doctors who spent an 11-day tour of duty at a hospital in Gaza returned home Monday, calling for an immediate halt to the violence and opening of the border posts to Gaza.

Erik Fosse and Mads Gilbert have treated scores of Palestinian patients injured during the Israeli offensive in Gaza that Monday entered day 17, and was estimated to have claimed over 900 lives.

"The situation in Gaza is much worse than we can describe," Gilbert told reporters, saying Gaza was a "huge humanitarian catastrophe." Supplies of food, medicine and other goods are severely stretched.

Gaza City - At least five Palestinians died Monday, as Israel used artillery and tank shelling during heavy exchanges of fire with local gunmen in eastern Gaza City and outside the Jabaliya refugee camp to the north, hospital officials said.

Two women and a child were among the dead in eastern Gaza City, apparently when their house was hit by a shell or by shrapnel.

A fourth Palestinian was killed by tank shelling in Jabaliya, north of Gaza City, while a fifth died in hospital of wounds sustained the previous day.

Cairo - The Egyptian government said Monday that it had made progress in its talks with the militant Palestinian Hamas organization, the official MENA news agency reported.

Tel Aviv/Gaza  - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday that "progress" had been made in international efforts to reach a truce in Gaza, but "difficulties" remained.

Israel in the meantime kept up its offensive in Gaza, which entered its third week at the weekend, striking more targets from the air overnight, albeit a smaller number than in the earlier stages of the war.