Gaza Strip

Fighting resumed in the Gaza neighborhood of Shejaia on July 20 less than an hour after a "humanitarian truce" was agreed to allow the evacuation of wounded from the area.
   

Two Palestinians were killed in fresh Israeli air strikes in Gaza on Saturday morning, among them a six-year-old child, medics said.

The new deaths raised the toll on the 12th day of violence in Gaza to 316 Palestinians, according to emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra.

More than 300 civilians, including women and children, have been killed; around 1,000 houses, schools and medical facilities have been destroyed as a result of Israeli operations on Gaza in the last 11 days.

Around 400 people marched through center of Sarajevo on Friday, demanding an end to violence in the Gaza strip.

Many of the protesters were from Palestine while others were citizens of Sarajevo who joined them, carrying a big Palestinian flag and banners calling for an end to killing.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was to head to Turkey on July 18 to push a ceasefire in Gaza after Egyptian-mediated negotiations stalled and Israel launched a ground operation.

Cairo has been the hub of intense negotiations to end the 11-day conflict between Hamas and Israel, after the Palestinian militants in Gaza rejected an initial Egyptian truce proposal.

Egypt's foreign minister accused Qatar, Turkey and Hamas on July 17 of conspiring to undermine Cairo's efforts to bring about a ceasefire between the Palestinian militant group and Israel in Gaza, Egypt's state news agency reported.

Israeli forces backed by tanks and warplanes July 18 pushed into the edges of Gaza in a major operation to destroy Hamas tunnels that the Palestinian Islamist group warned was doomed to fail.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 17 instructed the military to begin a ground offensive in Gaza, an official statement from his office said. 

Reuters witnesses and Gaza residents reported heavy artillery and naval shelling and helicopter fire along the Gaza border. 

An Israeli official said on Thursday there is an agreement for a comprehensive Gaza ceasefire starting on Friday.
   
In Gaza, there was no immediate confirmation from Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups that they had agreed to halt 10 days of cross-border warfare.
   

Israel's military says three mortar shells were fired from Gaza after a humanitarian cease-fire went into effect.
     
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld had earlier said two rockets fell in open areas in southern Israel, causing no damage or injuries. He said the rockets landed at 12 p.m. local time, two hours after the cease-fire began.