Gaza conflict: Hamas rejects Israel's 24-hour extension to ceasefire as death toll passes 1,000

Updated

Palestinian militant group Hamas has rejected Israel's offer to extend a humanitarian truce in Gaza by a further 24 hours.

After the ceasefire began early on Saturday (local time), Gazans took advantage of the lull in fighting to retrieve their dead and stock up on supplies.

At the end of the initial 12-hour halt to fighting, Hamas militants ignored an Israeli announcement that it would extend the truce by four hours and resumed firing rockets into Israel from Gaza.

Israel's security cabinet then approved a United Nations request to extend the truce by 24 hours, but reserved the right to "act against any breach of the ceasefire".

The 24-hour extension was also rejected by Hamas, saying Israeli tanks first had to withdraw from Gaza.

At least 1,030 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the fighting since July 8 when Israel launched its offensive, aimed at ending rocket fire by Islamist militants out of Gaza.

Gaza's health ministry said rescue workers pulled 100 bodies from under the rubble during the 12-hour break in hostilities.

Israel said five more of its soldiers were killed in pre-truce fighting in Gaza and two others died of their wounds in hospital, bringing the army death toll to 42.

Three civilians in Israel, including two Israeli citizens and a Thai labourer, have been killed by rockets fired from Gaza.

Fighting continued until the truce took hold. Militants fired a barrage of rockets out of Gaza, triggering sirens across much of southern and central Israel.

No injuries were reported and the Iron Dome system intercepted and shot down some missiles.

Minutes after the truce began, many Gaza residents rushed out of their homes and lined up outside banks to withdraw cash so they could stock up on supplies.

Sides exchange fire in 'night of horror'

The truce allowed residents of Beit Hanoun, in Gaza's north, the opportunity to walk through destroyed streets lined with damaged houses and entire buildings reduced to rubble.

Some who had not seen each other for days embraced as they surveyed the wreckage around them.

We hope the calm lasts and they find a solution so fighting ends... There is no place to go. Hanan al-Zaanin

"We lived through a night of horror. The shelling was all around our house," said Hanan al-Zaanin, standing with four of her children outside their home in Beit Hanoun, an area which has seen fierce fighting.

Many of Beit Hanoun's 30,000 residents fled the area.

"We hope the calm lasts and they find a solution so fighting ends," she said.

"We are afraid for our children's safety. There is no place to go."

Israeli tanks stood by as people searched through the debris for their belongings and packed whatever they could blankets, furniture and clothes into taxis, trucks, rickshaws and donkey carts before fleeing the town.

'Serious progress' on permanent ceasefire proposal

The diplomatic push to end the fighting intensified in Paris during the truce, with foreign ministers from seven nations calling for it to be extended.

"All of us call on the parties to extend the humanitarian ceasefire that is currently underway," French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said after meeting with the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Qatar, Turkey and the US.

"All of us want to obtain, as quickly as possible, a durable, negotiated ceasefire that responds both to Israeli needs in terms of security and to Palestinian needs in terms of the social-economic development (of Gaza) and access to the territory of Gaza."

Israel, which began its offensive on July 8, has not publicly commented on the proposal.

US secretary of state John Kerry on Friday said no formal proposals had yet been put forward and there were still disagreements on the terminology but he was confident there was a framework that would ultimately succeed.

He said that "serious progress" had been made and there is still more work to do. Israel's and Hamas's positions remained unaligned.

Hamas wants an end to an Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza before agreeing to halt hostilities.

Israeli officials say any ceasefire must allow the military to carry on searching for and destroying Hamas's tunnel network that criss-crosses the Gaza border.

ABC/wires

Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, palestinian-territory-occupied, israel

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