Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Israeli warplanes bombarded new Palestinian targets and troops pushed deeper into the Gaza Strip as Defense Minister Ehud Barak vowed to stop Hamas rocket attacks and European diplomats tried to broker a truce.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives in Israel today to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah to push for a cease-fire. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told a delegation from the European Union Israel isn’t ready to lay down its arms and sees little chance of agreement with Hamas.

Israel expanded its hold today over the territory it abandoned three years ago, deploying tank columns and thousands of troops through northern Gaza while continuing an aerial campaign aimed at stopping attacks on its southern towns and cities. An Israeli soldier was killed yesterday by Hamas gunfire, the army said. At least 530 Palestinians have died during the conflict, according to the Palestinian emergency services department in Gaza City.

“Hamas has absorbed a very serious blow, but we have not yet reached our goals and therefore we are continuing the campaign,” Barak said on Army Radio. “At the same time, we are holding diplomatic contacts with international bodies.”

Rocket Attacks

At least 31 rockets from Gaza have struck Israeli territory since last night, according to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. There were no reported injuries. An empty kindergarten was hit in Ashdod, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Gaza. Schools have been closed there since last week because of the rockets.

More than 40 rockets and mortar shells hit Israel yesterday, down from a peak of 76 on Dec. 27, the first day of the operation. Altogether, 520 missiles have struck Israel in the past 10 days, damaging dozens of homes and wounding more than 50 people, police said.

As many as 3,200 rockets and mortar shells have been fired at Israel from the start of 2008. Rocket attacks have killed four Israelis since fighting began.

Israeli armored forces recaptured the former Jewish settlement of Netzarim yesterday, splitting Gaza in two along its axis in the middle of the territory and isolating Gaza City in the north, Palestinian witnesses said. An Israeli army spokesman declined to confirm the report and said it would not provide information about ongoing operations.

The settlement was one of the last evacuated by Israel when it left Gaza in 2005. Palestinian security forces later used the land for a training camp.

Settlement Encircled

“The Israelis surrounded Netzarim with tanks and seized control of the dunes inside,” according to Mohammed Arafat who watched the operation from the fifth floor of his house in the southern Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, who headed the EU delegation that met Livni, called for a truce at the “earliest possible moment,” adding, “we are not sharing the view that a cease-fire is only possible if all possible aims of Israel are achieved.” The Czech Republic took over the rotating presidency of the EU on Jan. 1.

Livni said Israel won’t agree to a truce now because “we have some military objectives and this is a long battle against terror.”

The Israeli air force and navy struck more than 30 targets during the night, including a mosque used to store weapons, an underground bunker in Gaza City, and tunnels under the Egyptian border, the army said in an e-mailed statement.

Children Die

At least nine children were killed in two separate strikes by Israeli forces last night, said Mu’awia Hassanein, chief of emergency medical services in Gaza.

Israel has come under increasing international diplomatic pressure since the start of the ground operation. United Nations Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness said in a phone interview yesterday that Gaza is a “humanitarian disaster.” He said 25 percent of Palestinian fatalities were civilians, a figure disputed by Israeli officials who say it is roughly half that.

Jordan’s King Abdullah said the humanitarian situation in Gaza had deteriorated to the point where “silence is unacceptable.” Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called on the UN Security Council and the Quartet members -- the European Union, U.S., Russia and the UN -- “to confront the humanitarian consequence of this aggression.”

Sarkozy Visit

Mubarak will also meet with Sarkozy today, before the French president travels to Israel, the first Western leader to visit since the Gaza conflict began. Last week, Israel rejected a French-proposed 48-hour truce with Hamas, saying it was seeking a more permanent end to the Gaza rocket attacks.

Hamas “bears a heavy responsibility” for the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip because it fired rockets into Israel, Sarkozy said in an interview with the Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour.

Sarkozy also “condemned” Israel’s offensive in Gaza “because it makes the conveying of relief to the population more difficult,” according to the interview, published today in the Beirut-based daily. Sarkozy will also visit Lebanon and Syria tomorrow.

Hamas Delegates In Egypt

Hamas will send a delegation to Egypt today to discuss the conflict, Agence France-Presse said, citing a report by al- Jazeera television. Hamas officials couldn’t be reached to confirm the report, AFP said.

Livni met last night with officials from UNRWA and other aid organizations and pledged to work with them.

Israel has allowed 400 trucks carrying 10,000 tons of food, medicine and other supplies into Gaza since the start of its military campaign, the Foreign Ministry said in an e-mailed statement. The Gaza border crossings were closed yesterday due to security concerns, Defense Ministry spokesman Major Peter Lerner said in a phone interview. Israel will reopen the crossing to send in 80 trucks with supplies today, said the army, and will also let out of Gaza a number of residents there who hold foreign passports.

In Jordan, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Yemen and Turkey, thousands of protesters took to the streets yesterday, al- Arabiya television said. Others demonstrated in Istanbul, burning a dummy carrying an Israeli flag and shouting anti- Israeli slogans, CNN Turk reported.

Rice Cancels Trip

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice canceled a planned trip to China this week to focus on Gaza, the State Department said yesterday. Rice said last week she has no immediate plans to travel to the Middle East. The U.S. has supported Israel’s operation in Gaza.

Hamas, deemed a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU, said over the weekend it planned to send suicide bombers to Israeli cities and kidnap Israeli soldiers. One soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, has been held captive in Gaza for more than two years.

Israel began the campaign to halt rocket attacks after a six-month cease-fire with Hamas expired Dec. 19. Hamas refused to renew the truce because it said Israel hadn’t eased its economic blockade of Gaza. It fired 70 rockets at Israel the day before it ended.

Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 after a brief power- sharing arrangement with Abbas, of the rival Fatah movement. The Palestinian Authority said it was halting peace talks because of Israel’s offensive.

About 1.4 million people live in Gaza, a strip that is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) by 14 kilometers.

The benchmark TA-25 Index has climbed 7.4 percent since Dec. 27. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index gained 6.8 percent. Israel’s benchmark added 1 percent yesterday.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Ferziger in Sderot through the Tel Aviv newsroom at jferziger@bloomberg.netSaud Abu Ramadan in Gaza City through the Tel Aviv newsroomt .

Last Updated: January 5, 2009 11:13 EST