GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP):

Israel seized control of high-rise buildings and attacked houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels as it pressed its offensive against the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers on Monday, while European leaders joined a stream of countries pushing for a ceasefire.

At least 14 Palestinian children were killed on Monday, raising the known death toll from the 10-day onslaught to 540 - including 200 civilians, United Nations and Palestinian officials said. Gaza's biggest hospital said it was overwhelmed.

From Gaza, Hamas continued to pummel southern Israel with more than two dozen rockets and pro-mised to wait for Israeli soldiers "in every street and every alleyway". One of the rockets hit an empty kindergarten in the southern city of Ashdod, the army said.

Peace and tranquillity

Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, said the offensive would go on until Israel achieved "peace and tranquillity" for residents of southern Israel.

After a week of air strikes, beginning December 27, Israeli ground troops invaded Gaza late Saturday. They quickly seized a main highway in Gaza, slicing the territory in half, Israeli forces pounded houses - one of them belonging to a leading Hamas member who was not there at the time - a pair of mosques and smuggling tunnels.

Israel has attacked several mosques during the campaign, saying they were used to store weapons.

The Israeli army said "dozens" of militants had been killed or wounded, but Hamas has not released casualty figures. A Palestinian health official said 80 people - including 70 civilians - had died since the ground inva-sion began, fuelling international outrage.

Israel has three main demands: an end to Palestinian attacks, international supervision of any truce and a halt to Hamas rearming. Hamas demands a cessation of Israeli attacks and the opening of vital Gaza-Israel cargo crossings, Gaza's main lifeline.

French President Nicolas Sar-kozy, who unsuccessfully proposed a two-day truce before the land invasion began, was due to meet Monday with Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, who lost control of Gaza to Hamas in June 2007.

While blaming Hamas for causing Palestinian suffering with rocket fire that led to the Israeli offensive, Sarkozy has condemned Israel's use of ground troops, reflecting general world opinion. Sarkozy and other diplomats making their way to the region are expected to press hard for a ceasefire.

EU insists on a ceasefire

A European Union (EU) delegation met with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Monday.

"The EU insists on a ceasefire at the earliest possible moment," said Karel Schwarzenberg, the foreign minister of the Czech Republic, which took over the EU's presidency last week. Rocket attacks on Israel also must stop, Schwarzenberg told a joint news conference with Livni.

The EU brought no truce proposals of its own to the region because the ceasefire "must be concluded by the involved parties," he added.

Livni said the operation was designed to change the rules of Israel's struggle against Hamas after seven years of rocket fire at Israeli towns. From now on, she said, "When Israel is targeted, Israel is going to retaliate."

Israel's operation angered many across the Arab world and has drawn criticism from countries like Turkey, Egypt and Jordan, which have ties with Israel and have been involved intimately in Mideast peacemaking.

The Palestinian foreign minister, Riad Malki, who works within the rival Fatah administration from the West Bank, asked the UN Security Council to quickly adopt a resolution calling for an immediate end to Israeli attacks in Gaza and a permanent ceasefire, including border monitors and an international force to protect civilians.

Israeli forces seized sparsely populated areas in northern Gaza and by Monday morning, were dug in on the edges of Gaza City.

An Israeli attack helicopter fires a self-protection flare towards targets in Gaza yesterday. - Ap