The threat of renewed war in Gaza loomed last night as the clock ticked towards the end of a three-day ceasefire with no sign of a breakthrough in indirect talks in Cairo between Israel and the Palestinians.
Officials in Egypt indicated that the talks were struggling, but said efforts were still being made to reach some sort of a deal before the truce expired at 2100 GMT, including possibly extending the suspension of hostilities by a further 72 hours.
Two hours before the temporary ceasefire was due to end, the Israeli army said a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip had landed inside southern Israel, without causing damage or casualties.
Hamas Islamists denied launching the missile, but there was no immediate word from its allies in the Palestinian enclave.
As the deadline neared, Israel moved forces closer to Gaza and called up additional reservist troops, Israeli media reported. The military said its forces were “moved around on a routine basis” and would not elaborate.
A Palestinian official with knowledge of negotiations in Cairo said Egypt had presented a new proposal for a permanent truce agreement that addressed a major Palestinian demand for a lifting of the Israeli and Egyptian blockades of the Gaza Strip.
Israel and Egypt harbour deep security concerns about Hamas, the dominant Islamist group in the small, Mediterranean coastal enclave, complicating any deal on easing border restrictions.
It was unclear from the official’s remarks how those worries, along with Israel’s demand for Gaza’s demilitarisation, would be dealt with. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said disarming was not an option.
Israeli negotiators had returned to Egypt after overnighting in Israel to discuss extending the truce in the month-old hostilities, which have killed 1,945 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and 67 in Israel.
Gaza was still a dangerous place, even with the guns silent. An Italian video journalist, his translator, three Palestinian bomb disposal workers and another person died yesterday when unexploded munitions blew up in the north of the enclave as attempts were made to defuse them, officials said.
Simone Camilli, 35, of the Associated Press, was the first international journalist killed in the latest Gaza conflict. Palestinians say more than 10 local media workers have also died in the fighting.
South of Gaza, a child was killed and two others were wounded when a rocket landed on their home in the Egyptian town of el-Mattallah south of the border town of Rafah, security and medical sources. It was not immediately clear who fired the rocket.
Azzam Ahmed, an official of the mainstream Fatah party who heads the Palestinian team in Cairo, said the talks were at a very sensitive stage and it hoped to reach a ceasefire accord before the truce expired.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told Al-Aqsa Hamas television the group would insist on “lifting the Gaza blockade”.