Palestinian death toll tops 1,000: 2 Iaraeli soldiers die after earlier attack

Two Israeli soldiers, who were wounded in and near the Gaza Strip earlier this week, died on Saturday, bringing to 42 the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of military operations in the Palestinian territory. Infantry Captain Liad Lavi, 22, was wounded on Thursday south of the Gaza Strip while infantry Sergeant Rami Chalon, 39, was hurt two days earlier at the border with the enclave, Israeli army said in a statement. On Sunday, Hamas rejected Israel’s decision to extend by 24-hour a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, saying Israeli tanks first had to withdraw from the territory. ‘No humanitarian ceasefire is valid without Israeli tanks withdrawing from Gaza Strip and without residents being able to return to their homes and ambulances carrying bodies being able to freely move around in Gaza,’ Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said in a statement today. Earlier, Israel and Hamas both agreed to a UN request to stop fighting from 8am until 8pm on Saturday. An Israeli cabinet minister said last night that Israel had agreed to prolong the truce by four hours. As the Palestinian death toll in the 19-day-long conflict topped 1,000, diplomatic efforts to forge a longer ceasefire continued in Paris. Foreign ministers from 7 nations -- the US, France, Britain, Italy, Germany, Turkey and Qatar -- called for an extension of the truce, according to AFP.