GAZA CITY: A UN aid agency says some 10,000 Gazans have sought shelter in UN-run schools after the Israeli military dropped leaflets on the territory warning residents of certain areas to evacuate their homes.

Adnan Abu Hassna, spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency, said yesterday that 12 schools are providing shelter.

Meanwhile, a blast ripped through a bus in Tel Aviv yesterday injuring 17 people in what Israel said was a “terrorist” attack, further vexing international efforts to end relentless Gaza-linked violence.

The attack came as Hamas-controlled Gaza was rocked by new Israeli air strikes and as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN chief Ban Ki-moon shuttled between Jerusalem and Ramallah trying to secure a halt to the bloodletting.

“A bomb exploded on a bus in central Tel Aviv. This was a terrorist attack,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Ofir Gendelman said on his official Twitter account.

Medics said 17 people were wounded, including one in moderate to serious condition while another three sustained moderate injuries. Police said the blast took place on a street which runs just behind the Kiriya, Israel’s sprawling defense ministry in central Tel Aviv. Television images showed the bus with its windows blown out and its metal frame contorted from the force of the blast, in images reminiscent of scenes from the second Palestinian intifada (2000-2005).

Just before the explosion, the UN chief had called for an immediate halt to militant rocket attacks on Israel after talks with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

“I reiterate my call for an immediate cessation of indiscriminate rocket attacks by Palestinian militants targeting Israeli populated centers. This is unacceptable,” he told a news conference .

“Now is the time for diplomacy and stopping the violence,” he said after a week of deadly Israeli air strikes on Gaza which have killed more than 130, as militants fired more than 1,500 rockets over the border, killing five Israelis.

Abbas had earlier held talks with Clinton, with a senior official saying he had expressed hope that a truce would be announced by the end of Wednesday, while the US diplomat was still in the region.

“President Abbas told Clinton that Egypt was the key to everything,” said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat after the 45-minute meeting.

“The secretary of state assured president Abbas that the United States has done everything possible to reach a ceasefire” in the conflict between Israel and Gaza militants, Erakat said.