Israel bombards Gaza killing 13 Palestinians as both sides ignore pleas for ceasefire

Israeli air strikes have killed 13 Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, a day after an Egyptian call for an open-ended ceasefire to enable new truce talks.

The pace of Israeli raids has been slower than on Saturday when at least 60 strikes pounded Gaza, killing 10 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and bringing down a 12-storey apartment block.

The death toll in Gaza has passed 2,100, mostly civilians, while more than 10,600 people have been injured in the Israeli military assault, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

There is no immediate sign of either side adopting the ceasefire Egypt appealed for on Saturday to allow negotiators from the two sides to return to Cairo to thrash out the details of a durable truce.

Israeli aircraft hit 20 "terror targets" in Gaza during the morning, while militants fired at least 20 rockets or mortar rounds at Israel, the army said.

An Israeli strike on the western side of Gaza City killed two Palestinians and wounded five, emergency services said.

Three more were killed and dozens injured around 12pm (0900 GMT) when Israeli forces pounded Gaza with a series of air strikes.

A teenage boy and baby girl were killed, and five others injured, in an attack on the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City.

Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesperson for Gaza's Health Ministry, confirmed the bodies of 2-year-old Zeina Bilal Abu Taqiyya and 17-year-old Muhammad Wael al-Khudari were taken to the main al-Shifa hospital.

Since a previous round of frantic Egyptian diplomacy collapsed last Tuesday, shattering nine days of relative calm, 88 Palestinians and a four-year-old Israeli boy have been killed in the violence.

In its statement on Saturday, the Egyptian foreign ministry called on "concerned parties to accept a ceasefire of unlimited duration and to resume indirect negotiations in Cairo".

Previous ceasefires with fixed timeframes have failed to give Egyptian mediators shuttling between Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams enough time to broker a deal acceptable to both sides.

Hamas insists that a long-term ceasefire deal must include Israel lifting its punishing eight-year long siege of the coastal enclave, including the opening of a seaport and airport to allow Gaza free trade and movement.

Israeli officials have repeatedly stated they require assurances on security issues relating to rocket fire by the Palestinian factions and have called for the demilitarisation of Gaza.

Saturday's pounding by the Israeli air force came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised harsh retribution for the death of the Israeli child in a rocket strike on a kibbutz near the Gaza border.

But on Saturday, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon told community leaders in the south that Israel now needed to look for a diplomatic solution to the rocket fire, adding that it would be doing so from a position of strength.

"I am convinced the other side in its condition needs a ceasefire more than we do," Yaalon said.

"We need to see that we direct things diplomatically... to a place in which we'll achieve quiet and security for a longer period," he said.

Hamas has said they will return to the Egyptian brokered talks but that their needs must be addressed by Israel.

“Any return to negotiations will depend on if the resistance feels that Israel is willing to meet our demands,” the group said in a statement on Saturday. “We will not agree to negotiate just for the sake of negotiation.”

The invitation to new truce talks came after a meeting on Saturday between Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.

"What interests us now is putting a stop to the bloodshed," Abbas said.

"As soon as a ceasefire goes into effect, the two sides can sit down and discuss their demands," he said, adding that, as in previous rounds of talks, Hamas would be represented in the Palestinian delegation.

Abbas held two rounds of talks in Qatar on Thursday and Friday with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal before heading to Cairo.

Around 460,000 people have fled their homes in Gaza - more than a quarter of the enclave's 1.8 million population.

On Sunday, five rockets fired from Syrian-controlled territory hit the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights but caused no casualties, the Israeli army said.

An army spokeswoman told AFP that it was not known who launched the rockets and the Israeli military did not return fire.

Late on Saturday, a rocket fired from Lebanon struck northern Israel, causing damage but no casualties, police and the army said.

No group took responsibility for what appeared to be a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza, in an act similar to rockets fired from Lebanon last month.