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Occupied Jerusalem: The Israeli military has continued its operation in the Gaza Strip, killing one civilian in Khan Younis and carrying out air raids in the north, just hours after the country's prime minister declared an end to hostilities.
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, had said late on Saturday that Israel had "achieved its military objectives" to end the launching of rockets into Israel and disable the Hamas faction which rules the Gaza Strip.
But by Sunday morning, 10 rockets had been fired into Israel, and Palestinian fighters were engaged in an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers in Jabaliya.
Israel carried out aerial sorties, claiming to have hit rocket-launching sites.
One Palestinian civilian died near Khan Younis after being hit by mortar fire.
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Send us your views and eyewitness videos Recovery teams are working to pull bodies out of the rubble in areas that have so far been too dangerous to enter. They have retrieved the bodies of at least 25 people, including children, and the number is expected to rise steeply.
The Palestinian faction Hamas - the de facto government in Gaza - was not consulted in Israel's unilateral cessation, and Hamas leaders say the "resistance movement" will continue to fight as long as Israeli troops remain inside the Strip.
They also maintain their pre-war demand that Israel ends its crippling 18-month blockade of the Palestinian territory to allow for the free-flow of goods in.
Ahmed Yousef, a Hamas adviser in Rafah, southern Gaza, told Al Jazeera on Sunday: "When Israel announced it is going to have a unilateral ceasefire to us while they're still in town, occupying Gaza, and they're not talking, or showing that they have accepted the initiative or proposal from Egypt, I think we have a right to defend ourselves.
"They know, as long as they are still in Gaza, we have to defend ourselves and we have to fire rockets, also to show the world community there are still Palestinians who are suffering from occupation and sanctions."
The toll last stood at 1,203 Palestinians killed during more than three weeks of Israeli onslaught in the territory, but medics reported pulling the bodies of 25 more people out of the rubble on Sunday.
According to UN and Palestinian medical sources, around 400 of the dead were children, and another 100 were women.
Thirteen Israelis have also died since the start of hostilities on December 27. |
