Israeli soldier, three Palestinians killed as hostilities resume

Three Palestinians were killed in shelling on Sunday as the Israeli military resumed its assault on Gaza, Palestinian medics said.

Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said two men were killed in shelling near the border in central Gaza, while a third was killed near Khan Yunis in the south.

Israel troops had largely held their fire since 0500 GMT Saturday when a 12-hour lull came into force, observed by both sides.

A subsequent extension accepted by Israel was rejected by Hamas which continued firing over the border, with one rocket killing a soldier.

At 0700 GMT on Sunday, the Israeli army announced it was resuming its military operations in Gaza launched on July 8.

The moves came after world powers met in Paris to mull ways of ending 20-days of bloodshed raging in and around Gaza which has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Palestinians and 46 people in Israel.

Following a late-night decision by the Israeli security cabinet to extend the pause in fighting for another 24 hours in line with a UN request, Gaza residents enjoyed their first quiet night in three weeks.

But Hamas said it would not halt its fire without Israeli armour first withdrawing from the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli soldiers' toll rises

"No humanitarian ceasefire is valid without Israeli tanks withdrawing from the Gaza Strip," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.

Shortly after the initial 12-hour pause drew to a close, Hamas resumed its cross-border fire on southern and central Israel.

One mortar shell killed an Israeli soldier, the army said after announcing the deaths of two more soldiers who had succumbed to wounds sustained earlier in the week.

The latest deaths raised to 43 the overall number of troops killed in the past nine days since the army began the ground phase of Operation Protective Edge.

Two Israeli civilians and a Thai agricultural worker have also been killed by rocket fire.

In Gaza, people also ventured out to stock up on supplies and quickly return to homes they had fled to pick up more belongings.

In many places they found devastation: buildings levelled, and entire blocks of homes wiped out by the Israeli bombardment.

In Paris, US Secretary of State John Kerry met European and Middle Eastern foreign ministers Saturday to push both sides to extend the temporary cessation of hostilities.

The situation in Gaza has also created tension in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, where protests erupted after Friday prayers and again Saturday, with a total of eight Palestinians shot dead by Israeli soldiers and settlers.