Israel extends Gaza ceasefire for 24 hours, Hamas rejects it

Israel on Sunday extended the humanitarian truce in Gaza for another 24 hours at the request of the UN, but Hamas resumed rocket fire and rejected the move saying no ceasefire is valid without Israeli tanks withdrawing from Gaza as the 20-day conflict killed 1,050 Palestinians.

The decision to extend ceasefire came after a crisis meeting of Israeli cabinet late last night. They extended the truce until midnight today. The cabinet also warned that the army will act if it is breached by Palestinian militants.

The cabinet will reconvene today to discuss the continuation of the military operation, the officials said.

But Hamas said in a statement that "no humanitarian ceasefire is valid without Israeli tanks withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and without residents being able to return to their homes and ambulances carrying bodies being able to freely move around in Gaza".

Israel and Hamas agreed to a 12-hour humanitarian truce yesterday which the Jewish state later extended by four hours till midnight local time.

Israel said that it would continue operations against tunnels used by Hamas during the truce period.

But Hamas fired several rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip, after the initial 12-hour truce ended and rejecting an earlier attempt to prolong the truce.

Meanwhile, Hamas also accused Israel of using previous ceasefires to prepare for more attacks and claimed that there had been truce violations yesterday.

During the original 12-hour ceasefire, Palestinians, frantically scoured through rubble with medics saying over 130 bodies had been retrieved across the Gaza Strip.

The health ministry in Gaza said 1,050 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed and about 6,000 wounded since Israel launched its Gaza offensive on July 8.

Meanwhile, Israeli military announced the 43th fatality of its 20-day campaign in the Gaza Strip, aimed at ending rocket fire against Israel and destroying a sophisticated network of cross-border tunnels. Three Israeli civilians were also killed in the fighting.

At least 120,000 Palestinians have been displaced in the current round of violence and about 80 per cent of the casualties have been civilians.

The UNICEF has said that 192 children had been killed during the conflict.

As the death toll continued to rise, Foreign Ministers from the US, Turkey, Qatar and several European countries urged both sides to extend the truce after their talks in Paris yesterday.

No representatives from Israel, Egypt or the Palestinian Authority attended the Paris talks.