Israel extends Gaza ceasefire

Hamas continued firing rockets at the Jewish state despite the Israeli government's announcement late on Saturday that it was extending the ceasefire by a period of 24 hours, until midnight local time on Sunday (2100 UTC).

Sirens warning of militant rocket attacks were heard in southern and central Israel on Sunday morning.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later announced via their Twitter account that the country's Iron Dome missile defense system had intercepted two rockets, while five others had hit the south of the country.

Earlier, the IDF announced that another Israeli soldier 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.

IDF warning

The IDF appeared to be holding their fire on Sunday despite the militant rocket attacks. However, when the extension of the ceasefire was announced, they had warned that they would respond to any aggression from the Palestinian side.

"At the request of the United Nations, the Cabinet has approved a humanitarian hiatus until tomorrow at 2400," an unnamed official said in a statement after a meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Security Cabinet late on Saturday. "The IDF will act against any breach of the ceasefire."

A Hamas spokesman, though, said the militant group had rejected the ceasefire as "unacceptable," since Israeli continued to destroy its tunnels and wouldn't allow residents to return to their homes in some areas.

Foreign ministers meet

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)