UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- Russia accused the United States on Monday of blocking a bid by the UN Security Council to condemn the escalating conflict between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and said other council members were filibustering the issue.

Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said he was prepared to introduce a resolution - a stronger move by the council than a statement - to call for an end to the violence and show support for regional and international efforts to broker peace.

Churkin said he would draft a resolution if agreement could not be reached among the 15 council members on a statement, which has to be approved by consensus. A resolution is passed when it receives nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the five permanent council members - Russia, China, Britain, the United States and France.

"One member of the Security Council, I'm sure you can guess which, indicated ... they will not be prepared to go along with any reaction of the Security Council," said Churkin, making a thinly veiled reference to the United States.

"Somehow, allegedly, that could hurt the current efforts carried out by Egypt and the region," he said.

Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza on Wednesday, killing Hamas' military commander in an air strike and threatening an invasion of the enclave that the Islamist group said would "open the gates of hell."

The Security Council held an emergency meeting on the same day to discuss Israeli strikes but took no action. The council is generally deadlocked on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which UN diplomats say is due to the US determination to protect its close ally Israel.

Council diplomats, who did not want to be identified, said the United States' UN delegation had been instructed by Washington not to engage in consultations on Monday on a statement on Gaza and Israel, circulated by Morocco last week.

One council diplomat said US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told the council that the United States wanted to be sure that a council statement would not be detrimental to mediation efforts by Egypt to end the fighting.

France, Germany and Britain submitted amendments to the draft Security Council statement on Monday, diplomats said, but Churkin said too many changes had been proposed.

"Unfortunately it looked like a little bit of a filibustering attempt. Maybe I am mistaken, maybe it's just a laid-back attitude in a situation where we cannot afford procrastination," Churkin told reporters after consultations.

One council diplomat described the filibustering accusation as "utter nonsense."

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- An Israeli airstrike on a home in the northern Gaza Strip killed a family of four on Monday evening, as Israel shelled the coastal enclave for a sixth day.

Four-year-old twin boys Suhaib and Muhammad were killed instantly when their home in Beit Lahiya was hit by an airstrike. Their parents Foad Hijazi and Amna Hijazi died in hospital. Eighteen people were reported injured in the attack.

Neighbors contacted by Reuters said Hejazi did not belong to any militant group, nor did any organisation claim him as one of their members.

Two firefighters and a paramedic were also injured when a wall of the home fell on them.

Another Israeli airstrike late Monday hit a home in Rafah in south Gaza, killing two teenage brothers and wounded 14 others, two seriously.

Medics identified the brothers as Ahmad Tawfiq al-Nasasra, 17, and Muhammad al-Nasasra, 15.

Thirty-three Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Monday and Israeli shelling intensified across the enclave in the evening.

The bombing of the Hijazi family home comes a day after an airstrike flattened a home in Gaza City, killing 11 members of the al-Dalou family and two neighbors.

Thousands turned out on Gaza's streets to mourn four children and five women of the al-Dalou family.

The bodies were wrapped in Palestinian and Hamas flags. Echoes of explosions mixed with cries of grief and defiant chants of "God is greatest."

Earlier Monday, Israeli forces bombed a tower block that houses several international media offices in Gaza City for the second day. A spokesman of Islamic Jihad's military wing and a 53-year-old civilian were killed.

Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed 115 people and injured over 900 since "Operation Pillar of Cloud" began on Wednesday.

Afrasianet-Israel has warned Hamas it will step up its offensive in the Gaza Strip in 36 hours if they do not cease rocket fire. Israel's Finance Minister told IDF radio the time left before Israel escalates its attacks can be measured in “hours, not days.”
¬"We are at a junction," said Minister Yuval Steinitz. "Either we go toward a calm or toward a meaningful widening of the operation… including a possible move to achieve complete military decision."
Israel has demanded that Hamas cease firing rockets into Israel for a period of “several years”
and that they stop the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. The conditions are part of a six-part proposal put forward by the Israeli government at negotiations with Hamas in Cairo.
In addition, the proposal asked that Israel be allowed to hunt down terrorists in the event of an attack or if it obtains information on an imminent attack.
Hamas’ official Moussa Abu Marzuk said Hamas would not accept the creation of an Israeli "security belt" in eastern Gaza.
For their part, the Palestinians have demanded the immediate lifting of the Israeli blockade on Gaza and the cessation of IDF targeted killings.
Fears of an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza have heightened following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Sunday that the IDF was “prepared for a significant expansion of the operation.”
Additionally, the Israeli cabinet has doubled the troop reserve quota for the Gaza offensive and called up a total of 16,000 reservists.
The IDF provoked international ire and accusations of a massacre following the accidental bombing of a civilian household during air strikes on Sunday night. Eleven civilians, four of them children, perished in the military blunder. Israel says it is investigating the incident and that the misfire was due to a technical hitch in their targeting equipment.
Meanwhile the conflict shows no signs of letting up, with both sides using bellicose rhetoric. The death toll at present stands at over 80 Palestinians, while three Israelis were killed in rocket fire on Thursday, a day after the IDF assassinated the head of the Hamas military wing, Ahmed Jabari.
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Multiple airstrikes killed eleven people and injured at least 70 as Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip entered its sixth day Monday, a Ma'an reporter said.

Muhammed Iyad Abu Zour, 4, Abu Zour, 19, Ahed Al-Qatati, 38, and Sahar Abu Zour were killed after airstrikes hit a house in the al-Zaitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

Muhammad Salameh Jundi, 31, was killed in the al-Shujaiyeh neighborhood, Imad Abu Hamda, 30, was killed in al-Shati refugee camp, and Jalal Nasr, 35, died from wounds sustained in a strike on Jabalia, north of Gaza.

An 18-month-old baby, Rama al-Shandi, was also reported killed in the strikes.

Thirty other people were wounded in the attacks and reporters in Gaza City said a massive blast at 2 a.m. damaged a police station.

In Rafah, Sabha al-Hashash, 60, was killed and three others wounded when warplanes struck the home of Mahmoud al-Hashash. The wounded were taken to hospital with moderate injuries.

A second airstrike hit an area in the north of Rafah, killing Ahmad Hussein Agha and Saif al-Sadiq and injuring one other person.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said there were no reports of rocket attacks since midnight.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was due to arrive in Cairo to add his weight to ongoing truce efforts being led by Egypt.

Izzat Risheq, a close aide to Hamas chief-in-exile Khalid Mashaal, wrote in a Facebook message that Hamas would agree to a ceasefire only after Israel "stops its aggression, ends its policy of targeted assassinations and lifts the blockade of Gaza".

Listing Israel's terms, Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon wrote on Twitter: "If there is quiet in the south and no rockets and missiles are fired at Israel's citizens, nor terrorist attacks engineered from the Gaza Strip, we will not attack."

Some 88 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched Operation Pillar of Cloud on Wednesday, after assassinating Hamas military commander Ahmad al-Jaabari.