Israel reticent on 'truce'

The Israeli government declined on Sunday to confirm an Egyptian claim of a fresh ceasefire bid for Gaza. Rockets continued to fall on Israel, so a ceasefire was not viable, an Israeli spokesman told the German news agency DPA.

Palestinian officials in Cairo were quoted by the the news agencies AFP and Reuters as saying Egypt had received "simultaneous consensus" from both sides and that an Israeli delegation would return by midnight Sunday, local time, (2100 UTC).

There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas, the dominant movement in the Gaza Strip, that a fresh truce had been agreed.

The volatile region's previous 72-hour truce ended on Friday morning, local time, with militants in Gaza resuming rocket attacks on Israel. Israel then quit the fresh Egyptian-mediated talks in Cairo.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted over the weekend that Israel would not return to the indirect talks in Cairo as long as Israel remained under attack.

Rockets still falling

On Sunday, rocket fire continued throughout the day, according to the Israeli military, with at least 24 projectiles fired by suspected Palestinian militants. Israel responded with some 35 airstrikes, the military said.

Gaza officials said at least three people, including a 14-year-old boy and a woman, were killed in the airstrikes. Israel said it closed a freight crossing used to deliver goods into Gaza.

Since July 8, more than 1,900 Palestinians have been killed and thousands of homes destroyed in the coastal enclave. On the Israeli side, 67 people have been killed, most of them soldiers in combat and three civilians.

Egyptian mediation

The Egyptian mediation is aimed at reaching a longer-term truce between Israel and Hamas, which took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 in defiance of the West Bank-based Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas is demanding an end to an Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has been in place in varying forms for seven years. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent arms smuggling, often via tunnels.

In the West Bank, Palestinian health officials said an 11-year-old boy was shot and killed by Israeli forces in a refugee camp near the city of Hebron after a military vehicle was hit by stones..

ipj/tj (AFP, dpa, AP)