Live blog: Gaza under attack

The Palestinian leadership is to demand the international community set a deadline for Israel to end its occupation of the territories, a senior official told AFP on Monday.

The move comes as Palestinian and world leaders continue to push for a halt to seven weeks of bloodshed in Gaza, and seek a more permanent end to violence between Israel and the Islamist movement, Hamas.

The Palestinian leadership is preparing "to go to the UN Security Council to enforce an end to the (Israeli) occupation," senior Palestine Liberation Organisation official Wasel Abu Yusef told AFP.

Labour minister Ahmad al-Majdalani also said the leadership was "working towards... holding an international conference to set a timetable for an end to the occupation," he told AFP on Sunday.

Neither official gave any details on when the Palestinian demand would be presented.

Hamas's armed wing Qassam Brigades have said they they captured an Israeli drone in eastern Gaza City, the Anadolu Agency reported. 

In response to Elie Wiesel advertisement comparing Hamas to Nazis, 327 Jewish Holocaust survivors and descendants publish New York Times ad accusing Israel of 'ongoing massacre of the Palestinian people.'

Two Palestinian resistance factions on Monday said they had fired dozens of rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israeli towns and sites near the border.

The Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian faction Hamas, said it had targeted the city of Beersheba in the southern Negev region with a Grad rocket.

It also claimed to have fired 19 mortar shells at several kibbutzim (agricultural collectives) – including Be'eri, Nirim, Ein HaShlosha, Kerem Shalom, Holit and Kfar Aza – in southern Israel.

It also targeted Israel's Kissufim military site and the Erez border crossing with a total of 13 mortar shells, the group said.

Meanwhile, the Saraya al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad, said it had fired two Grad rockets at the coastal city of Ashkelon and ten mortar shells at Nir Oz, Nirim and Kissufim.

In a joint statement, the two groups said they had fired 30 mortar rounds at the Netiv HaAsara agricultural settlement in the Negev.

The joint operation, the two groups said, had also targeted an Israeli troop concentration near the Erez crossing.

A senior Israeli official has responded negatively to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ rumoured initiative to ask the UN to set a timetable for the establishment of a Palestinian state on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as a capital.

“No nation gives up its native homeland,” Ofir Akunis, a deputy minister in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, is quoted as having said by Haaretz. “Jude and Samaria [the West Bank] are the cradle of the Jewish people. Withdrawal to the 1967 lines is tantamount to national suicide,” he added.

“The results of withdrawal from Gaza show that withdrawals don’t bring peace – they bring war.”

Hamas spokesperson Moussa Abu Marzouk has rejected rumours of a one-month ceasefire deal, according to Israeli media sources.

“There is no new Egyptian initiative on the table for a ceasefire in Gaza,” he is quoted as saying by Army Radio.

This goes against earlier reports that both sides had agreed to a ceasefire that would be announced by Egypt later on Monday.

A Palestinian official has told AFP that all groups including Hamas would be will to accept a new ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt, which would allow for crossings to be opened and allow in aid and reconstruction material.

“There is an idea for a temporary ceasefire that opens the crossings, allows aid and reconstruction material, and the disputed points will be discussed in a month,” the unnamed Palestinian official said.

“We would be willing to accept this, but are waiting for the Israeli response to this proposal.”

Israeli military sources reported earlier on Monday that they are willing to accept the one-month proposal, with negotiations over longer term deal to take place at a later date.

Israeli military sources report that Egypt may announce a one-month ceasefire in Gaza late on Monday, according to the Hebrew language site Walla.

The Israeli sources said Hamas and Islamic Jihad have agreed to the deal, however, there has been no announcement from either group as to the rumoured deal.

Walla said the proposed agreement will allow for “the first stage” of opening the Rafah crossing and expand Gaza’s fishing zone to 12 nautical miles. The site added that Israel will slowly allow more commercial products into Gaza, to include construction materials, through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

It remains to be seen how credible the report is, as no Palestinian officials have commented on it.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will ask the Americans to “endorse sending international troops” to marshal a 48 hour ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank, according to an MEE source.

The source, who asked to remain anonymous, said Abbas believes his initiative will bring an end to fighting in Gaza.

The Palestinian president announced on Sunday that he will launch a “diplomatic bombshell” this week, after holding meetings with Egyptian officials in Cairo.

Elsewhere Haaretz have reported that Abbas will instead ask the UN to set a timetable for the end of Israel’s occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state on 1967 border lines with East Jerusalem as a capital.

It remains unclear as to when Abbas will reveal his “surprise”.

Palestinians in Gaza have reported on Twitter that an Israeli air strike hit the Rafah border crossing on Sunday.

There have been no reports as to whether there were any deaths or injures in the attack, although photos have been posted showing damage to buildings.

Israel has reportedly agreed to return to Egypt for more talks over an open-ended ceasefire, according to media reports.

Al-Arabiya said a delegation will travel to Cairo to thrash out a deal to bring an end to Israel's deadly assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 2,100 Palestinians since 8 July.

There has been no announcement from the Hamas side about returning to the Egyptian capital, although yesterday their exiled leader Khaled Meshaal ruled out a return to talks saying "resistance" is the only way to achieve their goals.

The killing of a woman and her four children from the Juda family on Sunday meant 89 entire families have now been killed in Israel's assault on Gaza.

Their bodies were laid to rest on Sunday afternoon, shortly after their deaths, and hundreds of mourners attended the procession.