(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121120-israel-tank-2a.photoblog600.jpg)Lefteris Pitarakis / APAn Israeli soldier stands on a tank at a staging area in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip early Tuesday.By NBC News staff and wire reportsUpdated at 4:55 a.m. ET: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was heading to the Middle East Tuesday for urgent talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials in a bid to end the deadly Gaza crisis, a White House spokesman told NBC News as the United Nations warned against a threatened Israeli ground invasion.
Follow @NBCNewsWorld (http://twitter.com/NBCNewsWorld) A U.S. official stressed that Clinton would not meet with representatives of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
Israel Defense Forces continued airstrikes overnight. Since it launched the campaign seven days ago in response to rocket fire, more than 100 people in Gaza and three people in Israel have been killed.
Obama spoke on the phone with Netanyahu and newly elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi until 2:30 a.m. Tuesday Cambodia time (2:30 p.m. ET Monday) as diplomats in Cairo tried to work out a cease-fire agreement overnight.
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