Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on Sunday called for the establishment of safe corridors to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, which has been under intensive Israeli attacks in the past nine days.

Abul Gheit has sent messages to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and foreign ministers of the UN Security Council's five permanent member countries on the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a statement.

The Egyptian proposal is meant to help relieve the humanitarian sufferings of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza in face of the ongoing Israeli military attacks, said Zaki.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian senior official said on Sunday that the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave via Rafah crossing at the Egyptian-Gaza border were hindered by Israel's continued bombing.

"Egypt is ready to let in humanitarian assistance into Gaza but is unable to do so as a result of the continued Israeli attacks," the state MENA news agency quoted Egypt's North Sinai governor Mohammed Abdel-Fadil Shoushoua as saying.

The injured Palestinians were also unable to be sent into Egypt for treatment due to Israeli attacks near the Rafah crossing on Sunday, said MENA.

On Saturday, Israel's ground troops entered Gaza ruled by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), marking the second phase of the Israeli offensive on the militant group after eight days of air strikes.

Israel's military action, aimed at retaliating for Hamas militants' rocket attacks into Israel, has so far killed some 500 Palestinians and wounded more than 2,400 others.

(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2009)