JERUSALEM -- A surreal calm settled over the Gaza Strip for three hours yesterday afternoon, as the 12-day-old Israeli military campaign to destabilize the militant Islamist group Hamas came to a temporary halt.

Palestinians who had been huddling for days in their chilly, powerless homes rushed out in search of scarce food, clean water, cooking gas, warm blankets and supplies to get them through the deepening crisis.

Then, as abruptly as the firing stopped, the Israeli attacks resumed with renewed force. Gaza militants fired more than two dozen rockets into southern Israel yesterday. Four Israelis were killed by rockets in the past 12 days, but yesterday no one was seriously injured. Nearly 700 Palestinians have died in the Israeli attacks, including a rapidly rising number of women and children.

The International Committee of the Red Cross late yesterday said its teams, which the Israeli military allowed into the Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza City for the first time, found at least 15 corpses in several houses.

In one, workers found four small children next to their dead mothers, the ICRC said. In a statement, the Geneva-based organization called Israel's delay in permitting rescue services "unacceptable" and said Israel had "failed to meet its obligations" under international humanitarian law.

As diplomats struggled to craft a deal that would bring the fighting to a permanent halt, Israeli airstrikes targeted the Hamas-controlled smugglers' tunnels that have emerged as the focal point of a possible truce.

After dropping fliers warning Gaza residents living near the Egyptian border to flee, Israel again hit the barren area that Hamas had transformed into underground smuggling routes for weapons and supplies.

Egyptian officials said Israeli and Palestinian delegations were due in Cairo today for separate talks to see whether an Egyptian initiative could be the foundation for a cease-fire.

"We're open to hearing creative ideas on how to make sure that arms smuggling into Gaza no longer happens," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

At the United Nations, where diplomats were debating a formula for ending the crisis, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had urged Israel to embrace the Egyptian proposal.

Rather than try to create a new international force to patrol the small but troublesome eight-mile section of the border from inside Gaza, the proposal would transform the modest Egyptian force patrolling the area into a multinational unit charged with keeping smuggling in check.

In late 2007, the United States dedicated $23 million of Egypt's U.S. military aid to help it crack down on border smuggling into Gaza. Plans are afoot to expand the program.

U.S. officials said an Army Corps of Engineers team, which undertook an initial mission to Egypt to provide training and technology for detecting tunnels, could return to launch a broader effort. "We definitely could consider expanding it," said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity because no decision has been announced.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who spearheaded the diplomatic move, expressed optimism yesterday that the plan could gain momentum and bring the fighting to an end. Mr. Sarkozy yesterday announced that Israel and the Palestinian Authority had agreed in principle to the proposal. But the Palestinian Authority, which lost control of Gaza to Hamas militants in a June 2007 military showdown, lacks any ability to enforce the plan's provisions in Gaza.

Israeli leaders, with strong U.S. backing, have made clear that they're doing all they can to marginalize Hamas and regain a role for the secular Palestinian Authority. "Hamas has no official status," Mr. Regev said of the group, which won control of the Palestinian government in free, democratic elections in 2006. "Hamas is part of the problem," he said. "They are not part of the solution."

As the cease-fire talks unfold, Israel is moving ahead with its military campaign. Israel's security Cabinet met yesterday to weigh its next moves, including an expansion of the 4-day-old ground offensive. Israeli leaders declined to discuss their next steps publicly, but Israeli media reported the Cabinet will press ahead with the military operation.

The Israeli campaign, codenamed Operation Cast Lead, has killed nearly 700 Palestinians, including more than 100 children, according to Gaza medical officials. More than 3,000 Palestinians have been wounded in the fighting.

Seven Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ground operation began Saturday. Four were killed by an Israeli tank that accidentally opened fire on an Israeli position.