New Israeli attacks have killed a month-old infant in the Gaza Strip after the latest incursion that killed more than 125 Palestinians.

Israeli forces backed by helicopters have clashed with Hamas activists after several tanks rolled into a region east of Khan Yunis.

Casualties included a month-old infant, a medical official said.

The renewed operation in Gaza comes as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice failed to win a public commitment from Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas to resume peace talks with the Zionist regime.

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"The latest events have created a dangerous escalation... The suffocating siege on the Gaza Strip has stopped any progress in the negotiations," Abbas said in a joint news conference with Rice in Ramallah.

On Sunday, Abbas suspended negotiations to protest an exceptionally high death toll from recent Israeli military operations in Gaza.