The United Nations Security Council met overnight Thursday on a resolution designed to bring a speedy halt to Israel's 13-day-old offensive against Hamas in Gaza. The vote over a resolution was apparently postponed due to Israeli pressure.

Key Arab nations and Western powers reached agreement on the main elements of a resolution, the head of the Arab League said.

The resolution was supported by the United States and Arab nations that have close ties to Hamas. But it will be up to Israel and Hamas to decide to stop their military activities.

"Peace will be made in the region, not in New York, but actions in New York can support the search for peace in the region," a senior British official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

The UN Security Council delayed consultations until 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT), when the text is expected to be presented to the full 15-member council.

But France, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, might want to delay a vote until Friday, diplomats said.

The reported agreement came on the 13th day of an Israeli air and ground offensive against Hamas militants who rule Gaza and the third day of a high-level emergency meeting of the Security Council called by the Arabs to try to end the conflict.

It was based on a text drafted by Britain and backed by the US and France - all veto-wielding members of the Security Council - and amendments by key Arab negotiators including the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and Qatar.

The latest draft "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza." It "condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism."

The draft also calls on UN member states "to intensify efforts to provide arrangements and guarantees in Gaza in order to sustain a durable cease-fire and calm, including to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition and to ensure the sustained re-opening" of border crossings.

The draft also calls for the "unimpeded provision and distribution" of humanitarian aid throughout Gaza, welcomes the opening of "humanitarian corridors," encourages "tangible steps" to Palestinian reconciliation and renewed efforts to achieve Palestinian-Israeli peace "where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace..."

Arab nations set aside a draft resolution they had revised to try to reach agreement with the Western powers.

Israeli sources said that no such resolution would be acceptable unless it ensured the establishment of a mechanism to prevent a resumption of arms smuggling into Gaza through tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor from Egypt.

Other texts, however, called outright for an immediate cease-fire, to be followed by the establishment of an anti-smuggling mechanism, and then by the opening of Gaza border crossings.

In Jerusalem, Israel's political leadership was meeting Thursday night to monitor the developments at the UN, and to discuss an Egyptian cease-fire proposal raised in Cairo with Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad.

Amid the frenzied diplomacy, differences among Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni continued to surface.

Arab negotiators were pushing for the addition of language calling for an immediate IDF withdrawal from Gaza and a lifting of the Israeli blockade on the Strip - both key sticking points.

The British draft called for the continuation of negotiations on a comprehensive, two-state peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians, as well as a reconciliation effort between Hamas and the Fatah-led PA.

Israeli officials in New York, meanwhile, maintained their opposition to any Security Council action that would put Hamas on the same footing with Israel.

Israel, as a member state, would be legally bound by any resolution in a way that Hamas, operating outside the control of the PA and listed as a terrorist organization by the US and Israel, would not - an asymmetry not typically seen in conflicts involving Security Council consideration.

"This is why Israel said it did not want a [Security Council] meeting from the beginning," said Israeli mission spokeswoman Mirit Cohen. "They're not part of the UN and you can't compare between a member state and a terrorist organization."

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev told The Jerusalem Post this week that negotiations should take place in the region, while her predecessor, Danny Gillerman, told reporters in a conference call that the UN "should not play any role" in resolving the crisis.

Meanwhile Olmert, on a visit to Gaza Division Headquarters, said Israel had not yet achieved its goals.

"The bottom line, the test that will set the political leadership's decision [on whether to continue the operation], is how to ensure that the reality the IDF is currently changing does not return and that quiet prevails," he said.

"We have not yet reached this point, and the IDF has not yet been asked to do everything necessary to do so - the decision is still before us," he added.

The security cabinet, which on Wednesday approved a continuation of Operation Cast Lead but stopped short of giving the green light for the third stage, is scheduled to meet again in the coming days.

Defense officials said the IDF had reached the planned positions in Gaza and was prepared to launch Stage Three, which calls for expanding the operation, possibly into Gaza City and the southern Gaza Strip.

Reservists who were called up earlier in the week will be ready to enter the Gaza Strip on Friday. Division 162 from the Central Command has already been put on operational standby for possible deployment in the Strip.

Ten thousand reservists have been trained for such an operation, and another 50,000 could be called up if needed.

Livni believes that Israel has dealt Hamas a powerful blow, and that when it determines that the blow was heavy enough Israel should unilaterally declare a cease-fire, but make it clear to Hamas and the world that any infraction by Hamas will result in more Israeli military action.