10 killed in Gaza UN school as Israel mission 'ongoing'

At least 10 people were killed Sunday in a fresh strike on a UN school in southern Gaza which was sheltering Palestinians displaced by an Israeli military offensive, medics said.

Gaza emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said dozens of people were wounded in the attack which took place in the southern city of Rafah, which straddles the border with Egypt.

Chris Gunness, spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said the school had been housing thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) who had been forced to flee their homes by the ongoing violence in Gaza.

"Shelling incident in vicinity of UNRWA school in Rafah sheltering almost 3,000 IDP. Initial reports say multiple deaths and injury," he wrote on his Twitter feed.

It was the third time in 10 days that a UN school had been hit and came four days after Israeli tank shells slammed into a school in the northern town of Jabaliya, killing 16 in an attack furiously denounced by UN chief Ban Ki-moon as "reprehensible".

Israel withdraws some troops but Gaza mission 'ongoing'

Israel has begun withdrawing some ground troops from the Gaza Strip and redeploying others but military operations would continue, an Israeli army spokesman told AFP on Sunday.

"We are removing some (forces), we are changing from within," Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said, describing it as "an ongoing mission".

"We are redeploying within the Gaza Strip and taking out other different positions, and relieving other forces from within, so it won't be the same type of ground operation," he told AFP.

"But indeed we will continue to operate ... (and) have a rapid reaction force on the ground that can engage Hamas if required," he added.

"It's changing gear but it's still ongoing."

His remarks came a day after the Israeli army gave a first indication it was ending operations in parts of Gaza, informing residents of Beit Lahiya and Al-Atatra in the north that it was "safe" to return home.

Witnesses in the north confirmed seeing troops leaving the area as others were seen pulling out of villages east of Khan Yunis in the south.

It was the first time troops had been seen pulling back since the start of the Israeli operation which began on July 8.

Lerner confirmed troops had pulled out of Beit Lahiya and Al-Atatra, but refused to be drawn on whether the pullout would expand into other areas hit by heavy fighting.

Israel declares missing soldier dead

The Israeli army on Sunday announced the death of Hadar Goldin, a soldier who had been missing in the Gaza Strip.

A special committee led by the army's chief rabbi said Lieutenant Goldin had been "killed in battle in the Gaza Strip on Friday", the Israeli armed forces said in a statement.

Military radio said that no body had been recovered, adding that this made the decision to announce Goldin's death a "very delicate" one.

There was no government word on the whereabouts of the soldier's remains.

The Israeli side had previously suggested that 23-year-old Goldin had been captured by Hamas fighters in Gaza.

Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, had acknowledged its fighters staged an ambush early Friday in which two other Israeli soldiers were killed, but denied holding Goldin.

With no resolution in sight, a senior Palestinian delegation landed in Cairo for talks Sunday on an Egyptian ceasefire initiative, but Israel said it was not sending a negotiating team.

US Middle East envoy Frank Lowenstein is expected to arrive for talks, along with representatives of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The Gaza violence has claimed 1,720 Palestinian lives and displaced up to a quarter of the territory's population.

Goldin's death brings Israeli army deaths to 64 since the start of hostilities on July 8.

Israel 'will exert as much force as needed'

But there appeared to be little further indication Israel was planning to wrap up its operations, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promising that Hamas would pay "an insufferable price" for continued cross-border rocket fire.

"We will take as much time as necessary, and will exert as much force as needed," he said at a news conference, adding that troops had also dealt a "significant blow" to Hamas's infrastructure.

He warned that "all options" were on the table.

Exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said that the Palestinian side had not broken the short-lived ceasefire, putting the spotlight on Israel.

"A truce is a truce. but the presence of the Israeli forces inside Gaza and destroying the tunnels means it is an aggression," he told CNN in an interview late Saturday.

A spokesman for Hamas mocked Netanyahu's statements as "confused", and as testimony of the "real crisis" he was facing.

"We will continue our resistance till we achieve our goals," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP.