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Israel offers daily respite from bombings

GAZA, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Israel will cease its military campaign on Gaza for three hours a day to allow Gazans to get supplies, a military official said Wednesday.

The announcement comes after Israel's decision to open a corridor for humanitarian aid into Gaza as a response to growing concerns about food, water and medical supplies in the territory, CNN reported. However, when the respite would occur was not known and sounds of gunfire and explosions were heard in the strip early Wednesday.

It was unclear whether Hamas, which controls Gaza, agreed to the proposal, The New York Times said.

Reports indicate 40 rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israeli territory Tuesday and Wednesday.

Nearly 600 Palestinians, including women and children, have died since the campaign began Dec. 27, Palestinian medical sources said. Seven Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed.

Widespread shortages have been reported in Gaza throughout the campaign, and a call for a humanitarian truce appears to be gaining support at the U.N. Security Council, CNN reported. Israel opposes a temporary halt to its military operation, saying a break would allow Hamas to replenish its arsenal, but proposed a "humanitarian corridor" to allow aid to reach Palestinians.

The announcement came a day after Israeli mortar shells killed up to 40 Palestinians, among them women and children, outside a United Nations school in Gaza. The Israeli military said Hamas fighters fired mortars from the school compound. U.N. officials are seeking an independent inquiry.

President-elect Barack Obama ended his silence about the fighting Tuesday, saying, "The loss of civilian life in Gaza and Israel is a source of deep concern for me."

The U.N. Security Council met to discuss the situation, with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior Arab officials supporting a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Obama, presidents to meet

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama will meet together privately Wednesday, the White House said.

After their Oval Office meeting, Bush and Obama will be joined by former presidents Jimmy Carter, George Herbert Walker Bush and Bill Clinton for lunch, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

She told reporters that Bush and Obama have been in contact amid the global financial crisis and escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Perino said she could not share details of what Bush and his successor will discuss in their Oval Office meeting.

"All of us would love to be flies on the wall and listening to that conversation," Perino said. "But these are leaders who only understand what it's like to be in each other's shoes. And none of us can put ourselves in their shoes."

CNN's Gupta considered for surgeon general

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon and CNN's chief medical reporter, tops U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's list for surgeon general, CNN confirmed.

Gupta was approached by Obama's transition team and discussed the job with Obama late last year, CNN confirmed to The New York Times.

Gupta, 39, indicated he likely would decide about whether to accept the nomination within a few days.

If he accepts and is approved, he would be taking over a post that has been nudged aside by the Bush administration, which used the officials from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and the National Institutes of Health as the government's public health advocates, the Times said.

Gerard M. Farrell, executive director of the Commissioned Officers Association of the Public Health Service, said he and others had hoped Obama would pick someone who was a commissioned health officer.

"The best way to find a good leader and to depoliticize the office is to do what the military does: You pick leaders from within the service," Farrell said.

Other public health advocates said Gupta could be a good, if unusual, choice, the Times reported.

"The surgeon general's role has been to be the country's doctor, and having someone who is immediately recognizable to many people can be very helpful," said Linda C. Degutis, immediate past president of the American Public Health Association.

Besides his work on CNN, Gupta appears on the "CBS Evening News" and writes columns for Time magazine.

Pakistan angrily denies Mumbai claims

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Pakistani leaders say Indian suggestions that official agencies may have been involved in training November's Mumbai terrorists are pushing the region to war.

Tuesday's statement by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the sophistication of the terror attacks pointed to the involvement of "some official agencies in Pakistan" has infuriated officials in Islamabad, who called the statement "irresponsible," the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

"Vilifying Pakistan or … any of its state institutions on this score is unwarranted and unacceptable," the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement. "This is a sure way to close avenues of cooperation in combating this menace."

"If India takes military action against Pakistan, it would be a big mistake," the Times quoted Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir telling Pakistani lawmakers. "India is pushing this region to war."

India blames the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba for the Mumbai attacks, an assessment that U.S. intelligence supports. Pakistan has acknowledged that "non-state actors" may have played a role, but has vehemently denied official involvement even though Lashkar-e-Toiba has historical ties to Pakistan's spy agency, the Times reported.

Quake shakes Indonesia's West Papua area

JAKARTA, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A strong earthquake rattled Indonesia's West Papua province Wednesday, the latest in a series of tremors striking the region, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The 5.4-magnitude quake came just days after a powerful seismic event struck the provincial capital of Manokwari, leveling buildings and killing one person, the Indonesian news agency Antara reported.

The quake erupted in Indonesia's Halmahera region, about 70 miles north of Ternate and 170 miles east of Manado, USGS said.

There were no early reports of injuries or damage, Antara said.

Smaller quakes were felt off Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara province and Ternate in North Maluku province, Indonesia's seismological agency reported.

Officials said hundreds of government and private buildings were damaged by the Sunday quakes, as well as seven bridges, two of which collapsed, Antara reported.

Meanwhile, Antara reported officials canceled tsunami alerts and people began returning to their homes from from camps on higher ground.