Israel has rejected calls for an immediate temporary ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip after five consecutive days of aerial assault.

Yigal Palmor, a foreign ministry spokesman, said it was unrealistic to expect Israel to agree to a plan “with no mechanism to enforce the cessation of shooting and terror from Hamas”.

Israel’s security cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss the proposal made by France, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.

“That proposal contained no guarantees of any kind that Hamas will stop the rockets and smuggling,” Palmor said.

Four Israeli citizens have been killed in rocket and mortar attacks from the Gaza Strip since Israel began its offensive on Saturday.

Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, said a “durable” solution was needed rather than the “band-aid” that would be provided by a 48-hour truce.

What we need is a solution that will create real quiet … the only people who really wanted this were Hamas, because we have been hitting them hard and they’d like time to regroup and rearm,” he told Al Jazeera.

“To go through all this again a month from now will do no one any good, not the Palestinians in Gaza, not the Israelis living in the south facing the brunt of these incoming rockets.

Israeli bombardment

The decision to continue the war on Gaza came as Israeli jets hit targets across the territory, adding to the misery of civilians trapped in the densely-populated strip, much of which is without power as food supplies run dangerously low.

Early on Wednesday a Palestinian medic was killed when his ambulance was hit by an Israeli missile.

Witnesses reported other missiles hitting Hamas positions in Gaza city as well as the network of tunnels used for smuggling both basic supplies and weapons under the Gaza-Egypt border.

“Over the past 18 months those tunnels have really become a lifeline for the Palestinian people, but during these five days the tunnels have been destroyed,” Al Jazeera’s Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Gaza City, said.

“Things are starting to run very low because not enough is coming through the crossings.”

A senior United Nations official said it was crucial that the bombardment was halted so that fuel and fuel could be delivered to the strip.

“Conditions for parents and children in Gaza are dangerous and frightening. We are in a life or death situation for many people today,” Maxwell Gaylard, UN humanitarian co-ordinator, said in a statement.

“Without the violence stopping, it is extremely difficult to get food to people who need it. We cannot assess where the most urgent needs are, and it is too dangerous for civilians to leave their homes to seek urgent medical treatment, buy supplies and assist people in distress.”

Nearly 400 people, including dozens of civilians, have been killed and at least 1,600 injured as Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships have dropped hundreds of bombs and missiles.

Hamas warning

The armed wing of Hamas warned that it would step up rocket attacks against Israel if the bombardment was not ended.

“We tell the leaders of the enemy – if you continue with your assault, we will hit with our rockets further than the cities we have hit so far,” a masked spokesman for Izz-e-din al-Qassam Brigades said in a televised statement.

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said that the Israel military were continuing to move men and machines to the border with Gaza amid ongoing concerns that the assault will escalate into a ground offensive.

“Tanks and armoured personnel carriers are being brought on the road by low-loaders and then moved into a field where a small army camp has been set up,” he reported from southern Israel.

“They are making it clear that if they wanted to have a ground assault they could do it and they certainly have the people in place to go ahead with that.”

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said that the international efforts to halt the fighting were heavily unbalanced in favour of Israel.

“The current efforts aimed at ending the combat and installing a ceasefire put the executioner and the victim on equal footing,” he said in a statement.

“International and Arab efforts must focus on ending this aggression, opening the border crossings and rebuilding Gaza,” he said.

Diplomatic efforts

Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, made two telephone calls to Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, on Tuesday appealing to him to consider the truce, two senior officials in Barak’s office said.

The European Union added it voice to calls from the United Nations Security Council and the Middle East “Quartet” to end to the violence.

“There must be an unconditional halt to rocket attacks by Hamas on Israel and an end to Israeli military action,” an EU statement said.

“There is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in Gaza or elsewhere.”

Kouchner said on Wednesday that he and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, were considering visiting Israel in an effort to halt the fighting next week.

Other efforts to resolve the crisis were also taking place with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, visiting the region and Arab foreign ministers due to meet in Cairo.

Al Jazeera English – Middle East – Israel rules out immediate truce