Hamas declares 24-hour truce

Hamas announced the decision to observe a 24-hour truce in statements to news agencies on Sunday.

"In response to UN intervention and considering the situation of our people and the occasion of Eid, it has been agreed among resistance factions to endorse a 24-hour humanitarian calm, starting from 2 p.m. on Sunday," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told the Reuters news agency.

The Eid al-Fitr holiday, which begins on Monday, marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The statement came just hours after the Israel Defense Forces said they were resuming their offensive in the Gaza Strip. The IDF said this was because Palestinian militants had continued firing rockets at the Jewish state despite the Israeli government's announcement late on Saturday that it was extending a ceasefire by a period of 24 hours, until midnight local time on Sunday (2100 UTC).

Israeli forces resumed full-scale attacks on targets in Gaza shortly afterwards. Hamas had never stopped firing rockets at Israel, as they had not agreed with the terms of the ceasefire, which allowed the IDF to continue destroying tunnels used by the Islamist militants.

There was no immediate response from Israel to the latest Hamas statement.

Israeli soldier killed

The military also announced earlier on Sunday that another one of its soldiers had been killed near the Gaza Strip.

"The soldier was killed by a shell that was fired from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory," an army spokeswoman told the AFP news agency.

That brought to 43 the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since Israel launched what was initially strictly an air offensive on July 8.

The vast majority of casualties, however, have come on the Palestinian side, with at least 1,049 people in Gaza confirmed dead since the operation began, most of whom were civilians. The death toll had risen dramatically during Saturday's ceasefire, as it provided the opportunity to search for bodies and pull them from the rubble.

Diplomatic efforts continue

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to reach a more lasting end to the bloodshed continued on Saturday, with US Secretary of State John Kerry meeting in Paris with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as well as their colleagues from Italy, Britain, Turkey and Qatar.

pfd/tj (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)