The Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil has vowed to intensify efforts by Cairo to secure a truce and end Israeli "aggression" in Gaza after a strike killed 2 people.

He was speaking as he visited victims of the Israeli air strikes at the ShifaHospital in the Gaza Strip.

Mr. Quandil said Egypt will not hesitate to intensify its effort to stop this aggression and achieve a lasting truce.

Militants in Gaza have been launching rocket attacks at Israel which has responded with airstrikes.

Israel is now calling up 1,600 reservists as it prepares for a possible ground offensive.

Proposed ceasefire broken

Defence expert Martin Navias says it is a worrying development.

"I don"t think Hamas at this stage feels pushed into a ceasefire, I think the Israel"s feel they need to escalate" he said.

"I"m afraid that is what"s going to happen over the next few days" he added.

Israel said it would cease fire during the visit if Hamas did too.

But rockets fired from Gaza hit several sites in southern Israel and the Israeli air force responded with an attack on the house of a Hamas commander for southern Gaza according to a Hamas source.

The Palestinian death toll since Wednesday now stands at 21 while 3 Israelis were killed by a rocket on Thursday.