PLO offers truce as at least 100 killed in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A senior PLO official proposed a 24-hour humanitarian cease-fire today in the Gaza war, saying he spoke in the name of Hamas, but was contradicted a short while later by a spokesman of the Islamic militant group.

In Gaza, a health official said at least 100 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and tank shelling today, as Israel escalated its military campaign. The official, Ashraf al-Kidra, said the day's death toll was expected to rise.

There have been several instances in which the daily Gaza death toll in more than three weeks of Israel-Hamas fighting has surpassed 100.

Israel has lost 53 soldiers, along with two civilians and a Thai national.

The cease-fire offer was made by the Palestine Liberation Organization, of which Hamas is not a member. The largest group in the PLO is the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas' main political rival.