GAZA CITY—A summary of events over 24 hours of fighting in the Gaza Strip, which has killed at least 680 Palestinians and 11 Israelis:

TUESDAY

• Fighting between Palestinian militants and Israeli troops continues in Gaza City, and also in urban areas in the north and south of the Palestinian territory.

• Israeli strikes near three UN schools kill 48 people who had taken refuge in the buildings, medics say, adding that 43 of the deaths were at one school. Israel says that Hamas "terror operatives" were on the premises.

• 130 Hamas militants have been killed since the beginning of the ground offensive, according to the Israeli army.

• A Hamas delegation goes to Cairo to discuss an Egyptian ceasfire proposal.

• The United States says it wants to see a "durable" ceasefire, and stops short of endorsing a proposed humanitarian truce for Gaza.

• Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak invites Israel "without delay" to discuss security on the Egypt-Gaza border. Mubarak also meets French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

• Al-Qaeda issues an online message attributed to Ayman al-Zawahiri, urging Muslims to attack Israeli and Western targets.

WEDNESDAY

• Israel carries out some 40 air strikes across the territory overnight.

• Israel will open a humanitarian corridor into the Gaza Strip, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office says.

• The United Nations denies Israeli army allegations that militants were inside the school that was hit on Wednesday.

• Israeli ground troops withdraw from the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis overnight after operating there for a day, witnesses say.

• The UN Security Council is set to resume debate on an Arab call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

• In Lebanon, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warns that "all possibilities" are open against Israel, which fought an inconclusive war against his Shiite Islamist movement in 2006.

• Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak invites Israel "without delay" to discuss security on the Egypt-Gaza border, French President Nicolas Sarkozy says.

• Israel expels Venezuela's charge d'affaires in response to the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Caracas over the war in Gaza.

• Gaza medics say that at least 680 Palestinians have been killed, including 215 children, and more than 2,950 wounded, since the start of the Israeli attacks on December 27.

• Israel says that four of its citizens have been killed by Hamas rocket fire, while seven Israeli soldiers have been killed and 83 injured in the ground offensive.

• Israel temporarily stops bombing of Gaza to allow the passage of humanitarian aid inside the territory. Hamas says it will stop firing rockets into Israel for as long as the Israeli attacks are halted.