TIMELINE: Israeli-Hamas violence since truce ended

(Reuters) - Here is a timeline of events since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip ended last month.

December 14, 2008 - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal says the group will not renew a six-month-old truce with Israel.

December 18 - Hamas declares the end of the ceasefire, which expires the next day with a surge of cross-border fighting.

December 24 - Gaza Palestinian militants fire rockets at Israel.

December 27 - Israel launches air strikes on Gaza in response to the rocket and mortar fire, killing at least 229 Palestinians.

December 28 - Israeli air strikes hit the Islamic University and target smuggling tunnels in the Gaza Strip that provide a lifeline to the outside world.

December 29 - Israel bombs the Hamas-run Interior Ministry and declares areas around the Gaza Strip a closed military zone. Palestinian militants fire rockets deeper into southern Israel.

December 31 - Emergency U.N. Security Council session on Arab resolution calling for ceasefire adjourns without a vote.

January 1, 2009 - Israel kills Nizar Rayyan, a hardline Hamas leader, in an air attack on his Gaza Strip home.

January 2 - Palestinian official says Egypt has begun exploratory talks with Hamas to halt the bloodshed.

January 3 - Israel launches a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, sending tanks and infantry into battle with Hamas.

January 4 - Israelis cut the strip in half from the border fence to the Mediterranean. Troops and armor ring Gaza City. Israel rejects possibility of a ceasefire at this stage.

January 5 - French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on a peace mission, and U.S. President George W. Bush, appeal for a ceasefire.

January 6 - Israeli shelling kills 42 Palestinians at a U.N. school in the Jabalya refugee camp where civilians had taken shelter; Israeli army says it fired after gunmen fired mortars from the school.

-- Egypt, backed by France and other European powers, propose an immediate ceasefire and talks to address Israeli demands.

-- Over 30 missiles hit Israel.

January 7 - Violence resumes after a three-hour Gaza truce.

-- Israel says it views "positively" talks with Cairo over a wider ceasefire plan promoted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Sarkozy.

-- Twenty Palestinians are killed. At least 15 Hamas rockets hit southern Israel, causing no casualties.

-- Israel carries out sustained bombing along the southern Gaza border with Egypt where tunnels were used to smuggle goods and weapons into Gaza.

January 8 - Rockets fired from Lebanon strike northern Israel, wounding two people. Ten rockets fired from Gaza strike southern Israel causing no injury.

-- The total Palestinian death toll is at least 666, medical officials say. U.N. officials say many were civilians.

-- Eleven Israelis have died in the past 13 days, eight of them soldiers.

-- Sarkozy says he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are prepared to take a joint initiative to help promote peace.