- WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Palestinian death toll reaches 1,050 as scores of bodies are pulled from the rubble
- Those killed included 18 members of the same family who died in village near Khan Younis, southern Gaza
- Tense halt in fighting began at 6am UK time yesterday but Israel will continue searching for tunnels
- World leaders gather in Paris for crisis talks as 1,500 riot police prepare to quell pro-Palestinian protests
- Thousands march from Israeli embassy in London to the Houses of Parliament as international anger grows
- Protests in Paris break out into violence with police using batons and tear gas as last minutes of ceasefire tick by
Israel
has extended a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for another 24
hours, but Hamas, which dominates the coastal enclave, said that it
would only accept the truce if Israeli troops left the territory.
Israeli
ministers had signalled that a comprehensive deal to end the 20-day
conflict with Hamas and its allies, in which at least 1,050 Gazans -
mostly civilians - have been killed, and 42 soldiers and three civilians
in Israel have died, was remote.
'At
the request of the United Nations, the cabinet has approved a
humanitarian hiatus until tomorrow at midnight local time (2100 GMT
Sunday),' the official, who was not named, said in a statement after the
cabinet session held in Tel Aviv had ended. 'The IDF (Israel Defence
Forces) will act against any breach of the ceasefire.'
Palestinians walk by the rubble of
houses destroyed by Israeli strikes in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip.
Thousands of Gaza residents who had fled Israel-Hamas fighting streamed
back to devastated border areas during a lull Saturday, and were met by
large-scale destruction
A Palestinian news assistant working
with foreign media points to his family's house which was destroyed by
Israeli strikes in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip
Yesterday,
Gazans took advantage of the lull in fighting to recover their dead and
stock up on food supplies, flooding into the streets after the
ceasefire began at 8am (0500 GMT) to discover scenes of massive
destruction in some areas.
The positions of both Israel and Hamas regarding a long-lasting halt to hostilities have remained far apart.
Hamas
wants an end to an Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza before agreeing to
halt hostilities. Israeli officials that said any ceasefire must allow
the military to carry on hunting down the Hamas tunnel network that
crisscrosses the Gaza border.
A Palestinian woman carries her
belongings past the rubble of houses destroyed by Israeli strikes in
Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip
A picture taken yesterday shows the
rubble of destroyed buildings and homes in the Shejaiya residential
district of Gaza City, as families returned to find their homes ground
into rubble by relentless Israeli tank fire and air strikes
Palestinians walk by the rubble of houses destroyed by Israeli strikes in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip yesterday
Israel
says some of the tunnels reach into Israeli territory and are meant to
carry out attacks on its citizens. Other underground passages serve as
weapons caches and Hamas bunkers.
The IDF said it had uncovered four such tunnel shafts inside Gaza during the truce yesterday.
The
Israeli official added that troops would continue to act against any
breaches of the ceasefire, adding that the military would investigate
the tunnels during the entire 24-hour period.
He
said the cabinet would reconvene today to consider a continuation of
the operation 'until calm is restored to Israeli citizens for an
extended period'.
The Gaza turmoil has stoked tensions among Palestinians in Arab East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
An Israeli artillery cannon fires from
southern Israel into the Gaza Strip, early yesterday, just before the
start of the 12 hour humanitarian aid ceasefire. The Israeli military
said it would continue destroying Hamas's tunnel networks under the Gaza
border even during the ceasefire
Palestinian Muhammed Abu Auda (left)
accompanied by his relative Yousef Abu Auda, inspects the rubble of what
used to be the house of his father, destroyed by Israeli strikes in
Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip
Doctors
reported that eight Palestinians were killed on Friday in incidents
near the West Bank cities of Nablus and Hebron - the sort of death toll
reminiscent of previous uprisings against Israel's prolonged military
rule there.
Despite
Israel extending the ceasefire, Hamas has said that it fired five
rockets at Israel late last night, casting new doubt on international
efforts to broker an end to 20 days of fighting.
Hamas
said two of the rockets were aimed at Tel Aviv. Police in Israel's
second-largest city dispersed a peace rally attended by several thousand
people because of the threat, a spokesman said.
In
Paris, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and European foreign
ministers met yesterday to find ways to transform the initial 12-hour
lull into a sustainable truce.
'Rockets
have just been fired at Israel despite the humanitarian truce being
extended' until 2100 GMT, Israeli army spokesman Avital Leibovich wrote
earlier on Twitter shortly after 1700 GMT, when the original truce had
been due to end.
Another
military spokesman told AFP that three mortar rounds had been fired at
Israel from Gaza but had caused neither casualties nor damage.
Warning sirens sounded in southern Israel shortly after 8pm local time, when the original truce was due to expire.
Picking up the pieces: A Palestinian woman walks
across the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City as residents
returned to examine damage in a 12-hour ceasefire
The long walk home: Palestinians returned this
morning to check on their homes and businesses in the northern district
of Beit Hanun, Gaza
A Palestinian of the Keferna family runs to save his pet birds during the temporary truce
Upon their return, Palestinians pour
water to save the family's birds after finding them alive at the family
house destroyed by Israeli strikes
More
than 1,050 Palestinians have now died in the 20-day Gaza conflict after
scores of bodies were pulled from rubble during a tense ceasefire
lasting less than a day.
The
truce came as protests erupted in London and Paris, with French police
using tear gas and batons to quell a 'banned' protest by
pro-Palestinians.
In Gaza, the dead included 18 members of the same family who were killed by Israeli tank shelling moments before the truce began this morning.
As
the guns and bombs fell silent and Israeli soldiers reloaded tank
ammunition, thousands of residents returned to survey the damage and
watch rescue workers retrieve bodies from under collapsed buildings.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, third from left, stands with from
left, Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah, Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius,
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini
after their meeting regarding a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel in
Gaza, Saturday, July 26, 2014, at the foreign ministry in Paris, France.
With a 12-hour humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza Saturday, Kerry is
continuing with efforts to reach a longer truce between Israel and
Hamas. (photo credit: AP/Charles Dharapak)
US Secretary of State John Kerry, third from left, stands with from
left, Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah, Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius,
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini
after their meeting regarding a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel in
Gaza, Saturday, July 26, 2014, at the foreign ministry in Paris, France.
With a 12-hour humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza Saturday, Kerry is
continuing with efforts to reach a longer truce between Israel and
Hamas. (photo credit: AP/Charles Dharapak)
France's interior minister called on
organisers of the banned pro-Gaza protest to observe the order, fearing
anti-Semitic violence.
Bernard
Cazeneuve made his public appeal shortly before today's demonstration
in Paris was to start. Hours earlier, the Council of State, France's top
administrative body, ruled the protest ban was legal.
A court had ruled likewise, but organisers said they still planned to hold the protest.
Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn Israel
and United States flags, and torch effigies of Israeli and US
representatives during a rally against Israel and the United States
France
has Western Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim populations. Two banned
pro-Gaza protests last weekend, in Paris and Sarcelles, to the north,
degenerated into violence and attacks on synagogues. On Wednesday, an
authorized demonstration was peaceful.
Cazeneuve said chatter on social networks indicated a risk that today's protest could become a 'cortege of violence.'
Thousands
of activists were preparing to gather in other major cities around the
world, including at the Israeli embassy in London, where police
estimated at least 10,000 were due to march on Parliament.
Pressure: Seven leaders demanded an extension to
the 12-hour ceasefire as marches gathered around the world, including
outside the Israeli embassy in London
March: The large group, estimated to be around
10,000-strong by police, filed past London landmarks including the Royal
Albert Hall en route to Parliament
Support: In Newcastle, protesters in support of
Palestinians carried a coffin through the streets as they called on
Israel to halt the conflict
Big questions: A protestor holding a placard
during a protest on the Republique Square in Paris, which had been
banned by the authorities
Stand-off: French riot police prepare their
shields as they face up to protestors in the capital, near a meeting of
world leaders. They later used tear gas
Movement: A rally in London today reached
Parliament Square as it was revealed more than 1,000 people had been
killed in Gaza, with scores pulled from rubble
The pro-Palestinians gathered waving
placards and shouting loud slogans in Kensington, west London, in an
echo of other Saturday protests including in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Yesterday
foreign ministers from seven nations called in vain for an urgent
extension of the 12-hour ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
French
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said: 'All of us call on the parties to
extend the military ceasefire that is currently underway.'
The
gathering in Paris included the foreign ministers of Britain, France,
Germany, Italy, Qatar, Turkey and the United States. An EU official also
attended the meeting at the French foreign ministry.
'BANNED' PROTEST IN FRANCE ERUPTS INTO VIOLENCE AS POLICE USE BATONS AND TEAR GAS
By PETER ALLEN IN PARIS
A pro-Palestine demonstration which the French government tried to ban exploded into violence in Paris yesterday.
Riot
police used tear gas and baton charges on at least 3,000 protesters who
had defied the authorities by turning up to contest Israel's land and
air offensive in Gaza.
'There
are widespread disturbances - everything is being done to bring them
under control,' said a CRS riot policeman in Place de la Republique.
Clashes: Police in Paris used tear gas on
protesters in the French capital's Republique square. The demo had been
banned by the French government
Protest: Pro-Palestinian demonstrators spray fumes with the colours of the Palestinian flag on the Republique square in Paris
Masses of police gathered around the Nazareth Synagogue in a side street, as groups chanted 'Israel-Murderer'.
The
scenes made a mockery of a nearby meeting at the French foreign
ministry, where world leaders including US Secretary of State John Kerry
and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond were involved in Middle East peace
talks
Amnesty
International was among those who had issued a stern rebuke to France's
Socialist administration for banning the pro-Palestine demonstration.
It came as 1,500 riot police flooded the city as protesters pledged to take to the streets anyway.
Despite
a legal ban confirmed in the courts last night, vast crowds gathered to
express their outrage at the ongoing slaughter in Gaza.
Statement: The demonstrators in Paris waved
Palestinian flags and French flags as they protested near a crisis
meeting of world leaders
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said he
wanted to 'prevent more hate from spilling out on the streets of Paris,'
adding: 'I urge the organisers to abandon the event'
Spokesman
Genevieve Garrigos said the ban appeared to be an admission by France
that it could not control its own people, and that the 'peaceful
intentions' of the vast majority of protesters should be respected.
Another
march on Wednesday involving around 15,000 people was entirely
peaceful. Despite this, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said he
wanted to 'prevent more hate from spilling out on the streets of Paris,'
adding: 'I urge the organisers to abandon the event on Saturday.'
But Omar Alsoumi, a lawyer involved in the protest, said: 'The government is trying to ban a fundamental right.'
Olivier
Besancenot, a former presidential candidate and leader of the new
anti-capitalist party, had called on 'all democratic forces, political,
trade unions and associations to protest against the ban and to converge
on' the Place de la Republique, where the demonstration will take
place.
The
conflict has stirred up huge passions in France - home to the largest
Muslim and Jewish communities in Western Europe. There are more than
five million Muslims in France, and half a million Jews, many of them
living in Paris.
Killing: As the Palestinian death toll in
the 19-day conflict topped 900, Gaza's Health Ministry said 18 members
of the Al-Najar family died in the southern Gaza Strip shortly before
today's truce took effect. Pictured, rescue workers remove the body of
one of the family members as villagers look on near the city of Khan
Younis
Mourning: Palestinians watch as rescue workers
find the body of a member of al-Najar family, after removing it from
under the rubble of their home
Ceasfire: Rescue workers removed the body of a
member of the Al-Najar family using a digger after the brief truce was
agreed at 8am local time
Carnage: The death toll during 19-day conflict
has reached at least 900 Palestinians and 40 Israelis including 37
soldiers. Pictured: Rescue workers in southern Gaza
More bodies: Paramedics stretcher away the
charred body of an ambulance driver killed the previous night by Israeli
fire in Beit Hanun
Grief: A Palestinian woman reacts after seeing
her house destroyed in Gaza City. Hundreds of people returned to
under-fire neighbourhoods during the ceasefire
It
also insisted troops 'shall respond if terrorists choose to exploit'
the lull to attack Israeli soldiers or civilians. The military also said
'operational activities to locate and neutralise tunnels in the Gaza
Strip will continue.'
A spokesman for Hamas said all Palestinian factions would
abide by the brief truce.
Hundreds
of Palestinians poured into the streets in the minutes after the truce
took force, some on foot to inspect damage to their homes, and many
lined up outside banks to withdraw cash and stock up on supplies.
Residents of Beit Hanoun in the northern
Gaza strip walked 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
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, 30,000 of whose residents had fled the area.
Brief truce: Smoke from an Israeli air strike
rises into the air over Gaza City early this morning, where a truce was
agreed from 8am local time for 12 hours
Fireball: Shortly before the truce was agreed,
another huge explosion was seen in Gaza City in the early hours. The
deadline was set at 5pm GMT
Toll: The death toll has now topped well over
900 Palestinians and 40 Israelis, including 37 soldiers and three
civilians, according to official health agencies
Death toll: Palestinians carry a body of a man
found under the rubble of a destroyed house during a 12-hour ceasefire
in Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighbourhood
Hundreds of Palestinians poured into the streets
in the minutes after the truce took force, some on foot to inspect
damage to their homes
Halt in fighting: Israeli soldiers on top of
their tanks at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. World
leaders are gathering to negotiate a long-term ceasefire
Reloading: Israeli forces inspect and load tank
ammunition this morning during the truce. Tensions are increasing to
bring an end to the bloody conflict
Israel said that two more of its soldiers were
killed in Gaza, bringing the army death toll to 37, as troops battled
militants in the north, east and south of Gaza
Lull: An Israeli soldier reads on top of his
tank near the border of Israel and Gaza today after the ceasefire was
declared. World leaders called for it to be extended
She added: 'We hope the calm
lasts and they find a solution so fighting ends. We are afraid for our
children's safety.'
Siham Kafarneh, 37, sat on the steps of a small grocery, weeping.
The mother-of-eight said the home she had moved into two months earlier and spent 10 years saving for had been destroyed.
'Nothing is left. Everything I have is gone,' she said.
Israeli tanks stood by as people searched
through the debris for their belongings, packing
blankets, furniture and clothes into taxis, trucks, rickshaws, and
donkey carts before fleeing the town.
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 interceptor system shot down
some missiles.
Israel said
that two more of its soldiers were killed in Gaza, bringing the army
death toll to 37, as troops battled militants in the north, east and
south of Gaza - a tiny Mediterranean enclave that is home to 1.8million
Palestinians.
Three civilians have also been killed
in Israel by rockets from Gaza - the kind of attack that surged last
month amid Hamas's anger at a crackdown on its activists in the West
Bank, prompting the July 8 launch of the Israeli offensive.
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.
More funerals: Palestinian mourners pray for
Taib Mohammed Odeh, 22, and Khaled Odeh, 21, at a mosque in Hawara
village in northern West Bank during the truce
Salvage: Palestinians take usable things in belongings which they recovered from their destroyed houses during the ceasefire
Smoke rises from a vehicle destroyed by an
Israeli strike after Palestinian firefighters put out the blaze in Gaza
City in the early hours of today (Saturday)
Conflict: A member of the media walks past the
vehicle which was destroyed by an Israeli strike in Gaza City as
tensions continued to flare overnight in the region
Chaos: Smoke rises from the vehicle in the early
hours today. Elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, Israeli tank shelling
reportedly killed 18 members of the same family
On Friday 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 on Friday. A dozen protesters threw rocks and fireworks
at Israeli police, who fired stun grenades and water cannons.
BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: 'ABSOLUTE HUMANITARIAN NECESSITY' THAT CEASEFIRE IS EXTENDED
'Humanitarian necessity': World leaders have demanded that the ceasefire is extended
There is an
'absolute humanitarian necessity' to see the 12-hour ceasefire
currently taking place in Gaza extended, Foreign Secretary Philip
Hammond said yesterday.
Speaking
after meeting for talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry along
with foreign ministers from other EU nations, Turkey and Qatar, Mr
Hammond said they had agreed that a longer truce was needed to prevent
further loss of life.
Mr
Hammond, who travelled to Paris for the discussions, told Sky News
afterwards: 'Everybody understands that there is an absolute
humanitarian necessity to see this ceasefire extended.
'The
necessity right now is to stop the loss of life and you stop the loss
of life by getting this ceasefire to roll over for 12 hours, or 24 hours
or 48 hours, and then again and again.'
Earlier
International Development Secretary Justine Greening announced that the
UK is to provide an additional £2million in emergency assistance to the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency's (UNRWA) Gaza Flash Appeal.
It
brings the amount released this week to £7million, with the money
funding basic shelter, blankets, hygiene kits, nappies and other vital
supplies for the tens of thousands of people forced to flee their homes.
Miss
Greening said: 'More than 800 Palestinians have been killed in recent
weeks, with thousands injured and many tens of thousands displaced. It
is essential that civilians are protected and all sides must allow aid
agencies unimpeded access to get to those in desperate need.
'A
ceasefire needs to be agreed urgently as the first step towards a
sustainable political solution. That is the only hope for peace and
stability in the long term.'
Mr
Hammond yesterday issued a reminder to Israel of its obligations under
international law to take 'all feasible precautions' to avoid civilian
casualties after a UN school came under fire, killing at least 15
Palestinians.
Meanwhile
Labour leader Ed Miliband condemned the Israeli military incursion into
Gaza and said the rising civilian death toll in the territory meant the
Israeli action could not be justified.
His
comments contrast with Conservative ministers who have refused to
condemn Israel over the Gaza incursion, insisting it was entitled to
defend itself in the face of Hamas rocket attacks.
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