UPDATE 1845 GMT: Speaking at a press conference in Qatar, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has set down conditions for a ceasefire:

While not agreeing to the ceasefire until terms had been negotiated, he said he would accept a humanitarian truce.

Meshaal praised the resistance of Gazans —- “the prey, not the predator” — against Israel’s attack.

“Some thought that the people of Gaza were drained by the Israeli siege. They were surprised to see the brave fighters in front of them,” he said.

UPDATE 1735 GMT: The United Nations Human Rights Council has voted 29 to 1, with 17 abstentions, to establish a commission to investigate war crimes in the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Only the US objected to the measure.

(See earlier update for summary of the Council sessionIsrael & Gaza Daily: Is There Hope for a Ceasefire?)

Israeli Prime Minister Netanuyahu is not amused:

See also Palestine Feature: Israel Steps Up Demolition of West Bank Homes Amid Gaza Crisis
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UPDATE 1555 GMT: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not look thrilled to be seeing US Secretary of State John Kerry this evening:

KERRY NETANYAHU

UPDATE 1555 GMT: The Health Ministry says 678 Gazans have been killed and 4,250 wounded since July 8.

Three more Israeli soldiers were killed on Wednesday, bringing the toll to 32 dead and one missing since last Thursday.

Fighting between Israeli troops and Gazan forces was briefly suspended in several areas to allow convoys of ambulances to retrieve the wounded.

“A convoy of seven ambulances and two Red Cross cars went inside Shaja’ia to evacuate the wounded,” Red Cross spokeswoman Cecilia Goin said.

A second convoy of nine ambulances and two Red Cross vehicles went into Hazaa near Khan Yunis, following an Israeli assault that left many casualties (see update below).

A third team went into the northern town of Beit Hanoun.

UPDATE 1550 GMT: Palestinian media claim that many people have been killed and wounded in the village of Hazaa, “under siege” in the southern Gaza Strip near Khan Yunis.

A source in Gaza said his family contacted him from within the village and said, “Everything is burning.”

Several wounded residents, evacuated to a hospital in Gaza City, described bodies strewn in Hazaa’s streets and difficulties faced by medical teams trying to reach the wounded.

Eyewitnesses also described fighter helicopters circling above the village, and snipers stationed in several locations.

UPDATE 1230 GMT: The Israel Broadcasting Authority has refused to allow the transmission of commercials by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem (see video below), listing the names and ages of some of the children killed in Gaza, because they are “politically controversial”.

UPDATE 1032 GMT: Another Israeli strike on a Gazan hospital:

The director of the hospital said it had been empty since last Thursday, following the initial attacks.

Four hospitals have been damaged by Israeli attacks during the conflict, with staff and patients killed and injured.

The Israel Defense Forces have defended the attack in a series of tweets:

UPDATE 1030 GMT: A Thai worker has died of injuries suffered when a Gaza-fired rocket exploded in a greenhouse just north of the border.

UPDATE 0850 GMT: The Health Ministry has raised the Gazan death toll to 650, including 161 children, 66 women, and 35 elderly.

The officials reported 19 people killed in overnight bombing, including a 12-year-old boy and four people in a home in Khan Yunis.

UPDATE 0840 GMT: Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, is addressing the UN Human Rights Council (see transcript of speech).

Pillay has supported a core demand of the Gazan leadership Hamas:

At the same time, she called on both sides to pull back from violence, chiding Hamas for putting weapons and fighters in civilian neighborhoods:

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Eviatar Manor, denounced the convening of the meeting:

He then accused Hamas of “2000 war crimes” with its rockets and blamed it for the hundreds of deaths in Gaza:

Palestine’s Foreign Minister, Riyad al-Maliki, called for an “international fact-finding mission to investigate Israeli war crimes”, an “end to terrorism of Israel and its settlers”, and intervention to protect Gazan civilians. The speech was warmly-received:

UPDATE 0600 GMT: Israeli authorities have told the media that they are sealing off Gaza, according to Hugh Naylor of The National and freelance journalist Abeer Ayyoub:

The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, has spoken of his “hope and belief” in a ceasefire in Gaza “in the very near future”, as Israeli air and ground attacks continued.

The Secretary-General and diplomats from the US, Europe, Arab States met in Cairo on Tuesday to seek a halt to the two-week war.

Ban gave no details of a possible resolution “at this highly sensitive moment”, while acknowledging “many obstacles and complexities”.

The day was more notable for divisions among Western countries in their approach to the crisis. US Secretary of State John Kerry renewed Washington’s blame of Hamas for the violence, calling on the Gazan leadership to accept conditions for a ceasefire; however, France’s Laurent Fabius shifted attention to Israel and what he called its disproportionate response to rocket fire from Gaza.

Ban also pressed West Jerusalem, telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “Your military response is causing many civilian casualties. I hope we will be able to see the end of this violence as soon as possible.”

Netanyahu was unmoved, “In the face of such terror Israel has no option but to defend itself….We will do what we have to do to defend ourselves.” His ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, said the Israeli military should received the Nobel Prize for “fighting with unimaginable restraint”.

At least 635 Gazans have been killed, including more than 60 on Tuesday. More than 4,000 have been wounded. Almost 120,000 are living in 77 United Nations shelters.

On Tuesday, Israel struck more than 150 targets, including a UN facility, five mosques, a football stadium and the home of the late leader of Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.

Four more Israeli soldiers were confirmed killed on Tuesday, bringing the total to 29. Two Israeli civilians have been killed by rocket fire.

One Gaza-launched rocket struck near Tel Aviv Airport, prompting almost all international airlines to suspend flights.