Gaza/Tel Aviv - The death toll of five days of ferocious Israeli air raids against Hamas targets in Gaza has reached 400, de- facto health minister Basam Naim said Wednesday.

Some 2,000 Gazans have been injured, about 300 of whom are in serious condition, causing the death toll to rise rapidly, he said.

The official of the radical Islamic movement ruling Gaza claimed that half of Gaza's ambulances were out of service due to lack of petrol.

Four Israelis have also been killed and several dozen injured by Palestinian rocket attacks at southern Israel since its Operation "Cast Lead" got underway Saturday.

Washington  - US President George W Bush telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday for an update on the fighting in the Gaza Strip and to explore ways to end the conflict.

The White House has said that Bush will support a ceasefire only if Hamas militants stop firing rockets into Israel.

"President Bush thinks that Hamas needs to stop firing rockets, and that is what will be the first steps in a ceasefire," Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman, said in Crawford, Texas, where Bush is vacationing.

Gaza City  - The streets of Gaza City are almost empty. After five days of ferocious Israeli airstrikes which have not let up, those who do venture into the exposed outdoors do so to buy bread or stock up on groceries.

Schools have been cancelled and shops are closed, save for a few grocery stoors and bakeries.

Gaza City - At least two people were killed Wednesday evening in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, raising the Palestinian death toll of five days of heavy Israeli air raides to at least 393,

Cairo - Arab foreign ministers, at an emergency meeting in Cairo on Wednesday, appealed to the UN Security Council to halt Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

The meeting of the foreign ministers of the 22-nation Arab League took place as Israeli airstrikes continued for the fifth day against the Islamist Hamas movement, which governs the Gaza Strip. The casualty toll in the densely populated salient has reached almost 390 dead, most of them militants, and 1,800 injured.

"We urge the Security Council not to fall under any pressure and take an immediate decision to stop the Israeli attacks on Gaza, " said Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa at the opening of the meeting.

Jerusalem  - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected Wednesday a proposal for a 48-hour "humanitarian" lull in Israel's assault on the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, saying that the time was not yet ripe to call a halt to the Israeli operations.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner had proposed to Israel that it unilaterally halt its assault for 48 hours to give Hamas a chance to end its rocket and mortar attacks as well.