Hundreds of Palestinians protested in the traditionally Arab east of Jerusalem after Muslim noon prayers today

Death toll during 18-day battle reaches 844 on the day Palestinians launched a 'Day of Rage' following earlier clashes

Israel has rejected a seven-day ceasefire deal but US officials claim agreement met for 12-hour truce on Saturday


Israel has rejected international plans for a ceasefire, it was claimed late on Friday, as the death toll in the 18-day battle with Islamist militants in Gaza topped 840.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said no formal proposals had yet been put forward as desperate attempts to broker a peace deal continued.

Mediators hope a truce could come into force ahead of a Muslim festival that starts early next week, but they have struggled to resolve seemingly irreconcilable demands from Israel and Hamas-led fighters, locked in conflict since July 8. And as diplomacy faltered, the fighting raged on.

Gaza officials said Israeli strikes killed 55 people today (Friday), including the head of media operations for Hamas ally Islamic Jihad and his son. They put the number of Palestinian deaths in 18 days of conflict at 844, most of them civilians.

However, a U.S. official has said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Kerry Israel would begin a 12-hour pause in Gaza hostilities starting at 7am Israeli time (0400 GMT) on Saturday. Israel did not comment on the report.

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Palestinians close the main road between Bethlehem and Hebron during the funeral of three Palestinians, who medics said were killed during clashes with Israeli troops, in Beit Ommar town north of West Bank city of Hebron

Palestinian protesters block Route 60, the main Jewish settler road in the West Bank today, in the Beit Omar village, north the West Bank city of Hebron. Israel rejected a Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Israeli public television has reported

Palestinians throw stones at members of the Israeli army during the funeral of three Palestinians, who medics said were killed during clashes with Israeli troops, in Beit Ommar town north of the West Bank city of Hebron today. Five Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank on Friday in shootings involving both Israeli forces and a civilian who appeared to be a Jewish settler, medics and witnesses said

Israeli soldiers run during clashes with Palestinian protesters at a demonstration against the Israeli offensive in Gaza, near the Israeli settlement of Bet El, near Ramallah

Israeli soldiers of the 155mm artillery cannons unit fire towards the Gaza Strip from their position near Israel's border with the coastal Palestinian enclave today

An Israeli undercover policeman aims his gun at Palestinian demonstrators while his colleagues arrest a man during clashes following traditional Friday prayers near the Old City in East Jerusalem

A Palestinian protester brandishes a flare towards Israeli policemen during clashes following traditional Friday prayers near the Old City in East Jerusalem

Earlier today Israeli undercover police were involved in street conflicts with Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem as officers were put on high alert for flare-ups at the city's most important mosque during Friday prayers for the final stretch of the Ramadan Muslim holy month.

Hundreds of Palestinians protested in the traditionally Arab east of the city after Muslim noon prayers today. A dozen protesters threw rocks and fireworks at Israeli police, who fired stun grenades and water cannons.

Israeli aircraft meanwhile have struck 30 houses in the Gaza Strip today, killing a leader of the militant Islamic Jihad group and two of his sons, as Palestinians called for a 'Day of Rage' following the clashes between at least 10,000 protesters and Israeli security forces late yesterday in the West Bank and in east Jerusalem.

Last night's violence came after a UN school in Gaza, crowded with hundreds of Palestinians seeking refuge from fierce fighting, came under fire yesterday, killing at least 15 civilians and injuring more than 200.

Palestinian officials blamed Israel for the shelling of the school, which came on the deadliest day so far of the current round of fighting.

However, the Israeli military said the school 'was not a target in any way' and raised the possibility the compound was hit by Hamas rockets.

As further violence flared between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem today, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed regional leaders to nail down a Gaza ceasefire.

Israeli armed policemen stand behind Palestinian Muslims performing the traditional Friday prayers near the Old City in East Jerusalem

Israeli paramilitary police were on high alert today for flare-ups at Jerusalem's most important mosque during Friday prayers for the final stretch of the Ramadan Muslim holy month

Palestinians stand behind burning tyres during clashes with Israeli security forces following traditional Friday prayers near the Old City in East Jerusalem

Speaking in Cairo, Kerry told reporters that, although Israel may have rejected some language in a truce proposal draft, there "was no formal proposal, or final proposal, or proposal ready (for) a vote submitted to Israel".

The top U.S. diplomat said there were still disagreements on the terminology, but he was confident there was a framework that would ultimately succeed and that "serious progress" had been made, although there was more work to do.

The search for a breakthrough will continue in Paris on Saturday when France hosts diplomats from the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, the European Union, Turkey and Qatar, a French diplomatic source said.

'We are working toward a brief seven days of peace. Seven days of a humanitarian ceasefire in honour of Eid in order to be able to bring people together to try to work to create a more durable, sustainable ceasefire for the long (term)," Kerry said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking at the same news conference, threw his weight behind a seven-day humanitarian truce, saying it could start with an extendable 12-hour stoppage.

A 12-hour pause in Gaza hostilities will start at 7am Israeli time (0400 GMT) on Saturday, according to a U.S official. Israel has not commented on the report.

Palestinian stone-throwers take cover behind a container during clashes with Israeli security forces near the gates of Beit El Jewish settlement in the West Bank near Ramallah following a march organised by Hamas today

Masked Palestinians aim fireworks at Israeli border police officers during clashes near Jerusalem's Old City

An undercover Israeli police officer holds a gun as others detain a Palestinian man during clashes near Jerusalem's Old City

Israeli police officers detain a Palestinian man during clashes near Jerusalem's Old City

In Jerusalem, hundreds of Palestinians protested in the traditionally Arab-populated east of the city after Muslim noon prayers, and a dozen protesters threw rocks and fireworks at Israeli police, who fired stun grenades and water cannons

Hamas, which wants an end to an Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza before agreeing to halt hostilities, has yet to respond to the ceasefire proposition, which has not been made public.

An Israeli source, who declined to be named, said Netanyahu's security cabinet had turned down the plan because it did not let Israel carry on hunting down Hamas's tunnel network that criss-crosses the Gaza border.

'Kerry's proposal leans (too much) towards Hamas's demands,' said the source.

As the diplomacy continued, so did the fighting. Gaza officials said Israeli strikes killed 33 people on Friday, including the head of media operations for Islamic Jihad and his son.

Militants fired a barrage of rockets out of Gaza, triggering sirens across much of southern and central Israel, including at the country's main airport.

No injuries were reported, with the Iron Dome interceptor system knocking out many of the missiles.

The Gaza turmoil stoked tensions in the nearby West Bank. Medics said five Palestinians were killed in separate incidents near the cities of Nablus and Hebron, including one shooting that witnesses blamed on an apparent Jewish settler.

A Palestinian man carries the body of one-year-old baby Noha Mesleh, who died of wounds sustained after a UN school in Beit Hanun came under fire, during her funeral today in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip

A Palestinian carries the body of one-year-old baby Noha Mesleh, who died of wounds sustained after a UN school in Beit Hanun came under fire yesterday, during her funeral today in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip

On Thursday night, 10,000 demonstrators marched in solidarity with Gaza near the Palestinian administrative capital Ramallah.

Protesters surged against an Israeli army checkpoint, throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails, and Palestinian medics said one was shot dead and 200 wounded when troops opened fire.

In Jerusalem, meanwhile, thousands of Israeli security forces were deployed for possible Palestinian protests after Friday prayers at a key Muslim holy site, said police spokeswoman Luba Samri.

Israel said an army reservist was killed in Gaza on Friday, bringing to 34 the number of soldiers lost in a ground advance it says aims to destroy dozens of cross-border tunnels used by Hamas to threaten its southern farming villages and army bases.

It also announced that a soldier unaccounted for after an ambush in Gaza six days ago was definitely dead, although his body had not been recovered. Hamas said on Sunday it had captured the man, but did not release a photograph of him.

Three civilians have also been killed in Israel by rockets from Gaza - the kind of attack that surged last month amid Hamas anger at a crackdown on its activists in the West Bank, prompting the July 8 launch of the Israeli offensive.

Israeli warplanes struck 30 houses earlier today throughout the Gaza Strip, including the home of Salah Hassanein, a leader of the military wing of Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza after Hamas.

An Israeli army officer gives explanations to journalists during an army organised tour in a tunnel said to be used by Palestinian militants for cross-border attacks, at the Israeli-Gaza border

Israel says the war is meant to halt the relentless rocket fire on its cities by Palestinian militants in Gaza and to destroy a sophisticated network of cross-border tunnels that Hamas is using to sneak into Israel to try to carry out attacks inside communities near the border

Palestinian medics dig out a body found under the rubble of a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in the east of Khanyounis town in the southern Gaza Strip

A Palestinian man inspects the rubble of a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in the east of Khanyounis town in the southern Gaza Strip

Palestinian firefighters attempt to put out a fire in a house following Israeli air strikes in Al Nusairat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip today

Hassanein and two of his sons were killed in the strike, said Gaza police spokesman Ayman Batniji and al-Kidra. The Israeli army confirmed the strike.

Over the past two weeks, Israeli aircraft have repeatedly hit homes of Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders. Most had gone into hiding, but the strikes killed a leader of an Islamic Jihad rocket squad, a Hamas commander and a son of senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Haya, according to the Israeli military.

Such strikes have also claimed the lives of a large number of civilians. A Gaza human rights group said earlier this week that close to 500 homes have been damaged or destroyed in direct hits from the air, and that more than 320 people have been killed in their homes as a result of military strikes.

In the West Bank, protests against the Gaza operation operation erupted today in the northern village of Hawara, near the city of Nablus, and the southern village of Beit Omar, near the city of Hebron.

Palestinian hospital officials said three Palestinians were killed in Beit Omar and two in Hawara.

The mayor of Hawara, Mouin Idmeidi, said he and hundreds of others from the village participated in a protest after emerging from a local mosque following Friday noon prayers.

Hawara is located along a main north-south thoroughfare that is also used by Israeli motorists. Idmeidi said an Israeli motorist slowed down as he passed the march and fired at the group.

Israeli aircraft have struck 30 houses in the Gaza Strip today. Pictured is a Palestinian man in an area damaged in an Israeli airstrike on a home in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip

A leader of the militant Islamic Jihad group and two of his sons were killed in their airstrikes today. Pictured is Palestinian rescuers as they search for victims under the rubble of the home of the Hasnen family destroyed following an Israeli air strike on Rafah in the southern of Gaza strip

Rescue workers carry the body of a member of the Hasnen family found under the rubble of their home following an Israeli air strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza strip today, killing two people and wounding three others

Palestinian rescuers search for victims under the rubble of the home of the Hasnen family which was destroyed following an Israeli air strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza strip today

The mayor said four people were wounded and that one of them, a 19-year-old, died at Rafidiyeh Hospital in Nablus of his injuries.

After the shooting, clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli troops who opened fire, killing a 22-year-old from Hawara, the mayor said. Rafidiyeh hospital confirmed the deaths.

In Beit Omar, clashes erupted between Israeli forces and Palestinian stone-throwers. Hebron hospital officials said three Palestinians were killed. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet on Friday to discuss a limited humanitarian truce under which Palestinian movement would be freed up to allow in aid and for the dead and wounded to be recovered.

A Palestinian official close to the negotiations said Turkey and Qatar had proposed a 7-day halt to the fighting, which had been relayed to Israel by Kerry while Hamas considered it.

An Israeli official acknowledged that the proposal had been received, but said any decision by the Netanyahu government would likely come after Hamas had delivered its own response.

Israel insists that, even if such a ceasefire is agreed, its army will continue digging up tunnels along Gaza's eastern frontier, a mission that could take between one and two weeks.

Netanyahu has said a truce should also lead to the eventual stripping of Gaza's rocket arsenals - something Hamas rules out.

A Palestinian man walks next to a destroyed house following an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City. Early today, Israeli warplanes struck a number of houses throughout the Gaza Strip as international efforts continue to broker a ceasefire in the 18 day-old war

Israeli warplanes struck 30 houses earlier today throughout the Gaza Strip, including the home of Salah Hassanein, a leader of the military wing of Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza after Hamas. Pictured is an Israeli tank as it moves near the Israel and Gaza border today

Israeli soldiers on an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC), heads towards the Gaza Strip from an unspecified location along the Israeli border with Gaza Strip on Friday

'We must stop the rocket launches. How this is done - whether through occupying (Gaza), or broadening (the operation), or (international) guarantees, or anything else, I have to see it with my own eyes,' said police minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch.

The rockets have sent Israelis regularly rushing to shelters and dented the economy despite Iron Dome's high rate of success.

A Hamas rocket intercepted near Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday prompted the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to halt American commercial flights to Israel's main international gateway. Some European carriers followed suit.

Jolted by the blow at the height of an already stagnant summer tourism season, Israel persuaded U.S. authorities to lift the flight ban on Thursday, after which the European aviation regulator removed its own advisory against flying to Ben Gurion.

In the second such salvo in as many days, Hamas said it fired three rockets at the airport on Friday, an apparent bid to cripple operations there again. There was no word of impacts at Ben Gurion, whose passenger hall emptied at the sound of sirens.

Israel demands that Hamas stop firing rockets without conditions, while Gaza's Islamic militant rulers insist the seven-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the territory must end first

Palestinian civilians inspect the rubble of a building following an Israeli military strike in Gaza City on Friday

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal had on Wednesday voiced support for a humanitarian truce, but only if Israel eased restrictions on Gaza's 1.8 million people.

Hamas wants Egypt to open up its border with Gaza, too, and demands that Israel release hundreds of prisoners rounded up in the West Bank last month following the kidnap and killing of three Jewish seminary students.

One Cairo official said next week's Eid al-Fitr festival, which concludes Ramadan, was a possible date for a truce. But U.S. officials were circumspect on progress made by Kerry, whose mediation has involved Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and Abbas, as Washington, like Israel and the European Union, won't deal directly with Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group.

Israel's deputy foreign minister has today denied knowing who was responsible for the shelling of the UN-run school in Gaza, claiming the damage could have been caused by a Hamas rocket.

Tzachi Hanegbi said Israel regretted all deaths in the escalating conflict, but continued to lay the blame at the door of Hamas.

A Palestinian woman walks on a street full of stones which were hurled in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in front of an Israeli watch tower of the Qalandia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah

An Israeli soldier from behind a concrete barrier watches Palestinians crossing Qalandia checkpoint on their way to Al-Aqsa mosque, in the Old city of Jerusalem to attend the last Friday prayer in the fasting month of Ramadan

Palestinians walk among stones which were hurled in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in front of an Israeli watch tower of the Qalandia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Mr Hanegbi said: 'We have the knowledge about 2,000 rockets shot at us, most of them from the midst of Palestinian civilian concentrations.

'Whilst we have to take precautions to defend ourselves, sometimes there are mistakes.

'I don't know who has caused this mistake - some say it is an Israeli mistake, maybe it was a Palestinian mistake, because, you know, every six rockets Hamas is shooting at us falls in Gaza, unfortunately for them.

'I don't have any knowledge about the specific bomb that fell. We are very sorry for each and everyone's life paying the price for this tragedy.'

Kamel al-Kafarne, who was in the school, said people were boarding buses when three tank shells hit.

'We were about to get out of the school, then they hit the school. They kept on shelling it,' he said.

Palestinian men salvage a gas cylinder from a destroyed building after an overnight Israeli strike

In Gaza, the Palestinian death toll reached 817, after 115 were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest days of fighting, said Ashraf al-Kidra, a Palestinian health official. More than 5,000 Palestinians have been wounded since July 8, he said

Israeli soldiers work on their armored personnel carriers near the Israel and Gaza border today

Israel says the war is meant to halt the relentless rocket fire on its cities by Palestinian militants in Gaza and to destroy a sophisticated network of cross-border tunnels that Hamas is using to sneak into Israel to try to carry out attacks inside communities near the border

It was the fourth time a UN facility has been hit in Gaza fighting since the Israeli operation began on July 8.

UNRWA, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, has said it discovered dozens of Hamas rockets hidden inside two vacant schools.

But UN spokesman Farhan Haq said the school hit yesterday in the northern town of Beit Hanoun was not one of them.

The UN has also expressed alarm that rockets found in the schools have gone missing after they were turned over to local authorities in Gaza.

'Those responsible are turning schools into potential military targets, and endangering the lives of innocent children,' UN staff and anyone seeking shelter there, a UN statement said.

Palestinians declared a 'Day of Rage' after protesters clashed with Israeli soldiers and border police during protests at the Israeli Qalandiya checkpoint, between Jerusalem and Ramallah

One Palestinian was killed and dozens more were injured during the clashes with soldiers in Qalandia, near the West Bank city of Ramalla

A Palestinian protester holds a Palestinian flag as he runs past burning tyres during clashes with Israeli troops, at a protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza, at Qalandia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah late on Thursday

The violence near Ramallah came after a UN school in Gaza crowded with hundreds of Palestinians seeking refuge from fierce fighting came under fire yesterday, killing at least 15 civilians and injuring more than 200

At least 10,000 Palestinian protesters marching against Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip clash with Israeli soldiers and border police at the Israeli Qalandiya checkpoint

Israeli security arrest a man as at least 10,000 Palestinian protesters marching against Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip clash with Israeli soldiers and border police at the Israeli Qalandiya checkpoint

An Israeli security officer takes position as at least 10,000 Palestinian protesters marching against Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip clash with Israeli soldiers and border police at the Israeli Qalandiya checkpoint

Israeli security officers make their ways past burning tyres as at least 10,000 Palestinian protesters marching against Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip clash with Israeli soldiers and border police at the Israeli Qalandiya checkpoint

Fighting was fierce across Gaza yesterday, and at least 119 Palestinians were killed, making it the bloodiest day of the conflict so far

Fighting was fierce across Gaza yesterday, and at least 119 Palestinians were killed, making it the bloodiest day of the conflict so far.

Israel says the war is meant to halt the relentless rocket fire on its cities by Palestinian militants in Gaza and to destroy a sophisticated network of cross-border tunnels that Hamas is using to sneak into Israel to try to carry out attacks inside communities near the border.

Israel insists it does its utmost to prevent civilian casualties but says Hamas puts Palestinians in danger by hiding arms and fighters in civilian areas.

The attack on Beit Hanoun was likely to increase pressure on international diplomats shuttling around the region in an effort to broker a cease-fire.

More than 2,300 rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza since July 8, and the Israeli military says it has uncovered 31 tunnels leading from Gaza to Israel, some of which have been used by Hamas to try to carry out attacks inside Israel.