FACTBOX: Developments in Gaza, Dec 31

(Reuters) - Israel on Wednesday rebuffed French calls for a 48-hour humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip and stepped up preparations for a possible ground offensive after Hamas's long-range rockets hit a major population center.

Diplomats said the deadliest conflict in the Gaza Strip in four decades appeared close to a tipping point after four days of cross-border fire which have killed 385 Palestinians and four Israelis.

Following are developments in the Gaza conflict as of 7:30 a.m. EST:

JERUSALEM - Israeli aircraft carry out two strikes in the Gaza Strip, targeting smuggling tunnels on the border with Egypt and Hamas government offices in Gaza City, an Israeli military spokesman says. One person, a paramedic, is killed, say Palestinian medical officials.

JERUSALEM - Israel describes as unrealistic a French proposal for a truce that would halt hostilities with Hamas Islamists for 48 hours so that more humanitarian aid could reach the Gaza Strip.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will ask the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a top aide says.

GAZA - Israeli tank crews prepare for battle along heavily-fortified border fence after at least four long-range Hamas rockets hit Beersheba in Israel's southern region. Islamist militants lay land mines and other booby traps.

CAIRO - Arab foreign ministers meet in Cairo to seek a common position in response to the Israeli attacks. But the Arab world is deeply divided in its attitude toward the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls Gaza and is the main target of the Israeli assault.

ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erodogan flies to Syria as part of a four-country diplomatic push in the region to end the hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

TEHRAN - Iran's president tells Arab leaders they must act quickly to end Israeli attacks on Gaza Palestinians, saying that setting up a committee or making speeches is not enough.