Israeli and Palestinian officials floated a cease-fire on Sunday to end an upsurge of violence in Gaza, as Israel warned of a still stronger response if rocket fire from the coastal strip continues.
In Cairo, the Arab League said it would call on the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone over Gaza after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that continued rocket fire by Gaza militants would be dealt with harshly.
"If the criminal attacks against the Israeli military and civilians continue, Israel will respond with even more force," he told reporters at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting.
But both Israeli and Palestinian officials expressed support for a potential cease-fire, after days of rocket fire from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli air raids that have killed at least 18 Palestinians.
The flare-up came after an anti-tank missile fired from Gaza hit an Israeli school bus on Thursday, wounding two people including a minor, who was critically injured.
Hamas has said the rocket fire was in response to Israel's April 2 assassination of three senior members of the Islamist group.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday that Israel was ready to end the confrontation, if Hamas and other armed groups stopped firing.
"If they cease firing, we'll cease firing," he said. "We will act along the lines of what happens on the ground," added Barak, who indefinitely postponed a trip to Washington as violence escalated.
It was the first time that an Israeli minister had floated the possibility of a cease-fire since deadly clashes with the Palestinians broke out.
Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza had previously announced a unilateral truce that unravelled before it had a chance to take hold, with militants firing dozens of rockets and mortar rounds into southern Israel.
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