Hamas agrees to new 24-hour truce in Gaza

Hamas Islamist militants have agreed to a 24-hour humanitarian truce in their conflict with Israel in the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the group said on Sunday, hours after fighting between the sides resumed, according to a news agency.
"It has been agreed among resistance factions to endorse a 24-hour humanitarian calm," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters, saying the calm should start at 2.00pm (1200 BST). An Israeli official said the truce was being reviewed.
However, as 2.00pm came and went, the sound of heavy Israeli shelling could be heard within Gaza and sirens sounded in Israeli communities near the border area, suggesting Palestinian militants had fired missiles at them.
Israel had called off its own 24-hour truce earlier in the day after Hamas launched rockets into southern and central Israel, and Palestinian medics said at least 10 people had died in the wave of subsequent strikes that swept Gaza.
Some 1,060 Palestinians, mainly civilians and including many children, have been killed in the 20-day conflict. Israel says 43 of its soldiers have died, along with three civilians killed by rocket and mortar fire out of the Mediterranean enclave.