Palestinian negotiators consider new 72-hour ceasefire offer

Palestinian negotiators are examining a proposal for a new 72-hour ceasefire in Gaza during fragile negotiations in Cairo.

"There is a proposal for another 72-hour truce (to allow) for the continuation of negotiations," Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP in Gaza, without saying when it would begin.

"This proposal is being studied," he said, indicating the Palestinian response would depend on "the seriousness of the Israeli position."

Associated Press earlier quoted an unnamed official saying the Palestinians had "accepted" the proposal.

Fragile negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis to bring an end to the 34-day Gaza conflict had looked poised to come to an end Sunday with both sides threatening to disengage.

A senior Hamas official said Sunday there was a "weak" possibility that Gaza truce talks would succeed and that Palestinian negotiators could leave Cairo after a meeting with Egyptian mediators.

"The possibility of negotiations to succeed is weak. It is possible that the Palestinian delegation will leave to consult its leaders any minute," Ezzat al-Rishq, who is taking part in the Cairo truce talks, told AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet as it met at the defence ministry in Tel Aviv that the country will not engage in talks until Palestinian rocket fire halts.

An earlier ceasefire brokered by Cairo ended on Friday 0500 GMT, and since then both Hamas and Israel have resumed fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli airstrikes, primarily targeting the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, killed three Gazans on Saturday night including a 13-year-old girl and 14-year old boy and injured dozens of others, Ma'an news agency reported.

Negotiations for a new ceasefire in Gaza had been expected to resume in Cairo on Sunday with an Israeli delegation scheduled to arrive.

But Palestinian negotiators have warned they will leave if their Israeli counterparts do not show up, with one of them setting a 1300 GMT deadline.

"We told the Egyptians that if the Israelis are not coming and if there is no significant development, we are leaving today," Palestinian negotiator Bassam Salhi told AP.

Egyptian mediators told the Palestinian delegation that they were in touch with Israeli officials and still hope progress can be made, Salhi said.

Palestinian demands include freer movement of people and goods across the borders, the release of political prisoners and reconstruction of the Strip - demands that reportedly have remained on the table, an official involved in the talks told the Wall Street Journal.

"Not a single word has changed in the proposal [to end the crisis]," Palestinian ambassador to Egypt Gamal al-Shobaki told the Wall Street Journal on Saturday night. 

The Gazans killed in airstrikes over Saturday night raise the death toll in the Gaza Strip during the month-long conflict to 1,917 Palestinians, according to Ma'an. A total of 67 Israelis have been killed, including three civilians, according to Israeli officials.