Israel resumes attacks on Gaza

Israel has launched air strikes on "terrorism targets" in Gaza and recalled negotiators from Cairo after three rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, as efforts to agree a permanent ceasefire appeared to unravel.

The Israeli military said that rockets landed in open areas near the town of Beersheeva.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, ordered his army to attack targets in Gaza, and recalled from Cairo negotiators who were involved in indirect talks with Palestinians on a permanent ceasefire.

"In response to Hamas's violation of the truce, the prime minister and defence minister have ordered the IDF [Israeli army] to once more attack terror sites in the Gaza Strip," a government official said.

The AP and AFP news agencies, quoting Palestinian and Israeli sources, reported air strikes in the north of the Gaza Strip, although there were no further details.

Palestinian and Israeli negotiatiors had been working towards a permanent ceasefire to end the latest Gaza war, in which more than 2,000 people have died. Most of the dead were Gazan civilians.

The rocket fire broke a temporary truce valid until midnight local time.

Earlier Tuesday, the chief Palestinian delegate to the truce talks with Israel warned that Gaza violence could erupt anew unless progress was made toward a lasting deal ahead of a midnight deadline in Egyptian-brokered talks.

After a last-minute agreement was stuck to extend by 24 hours a deadline to reach a truce, Azzam al-Ahmad, senior leader of President Mahmoud Abbas's mainstream Fatah movement, said there had been "no progress on any point" in talks aimed at resolving the Gaza conflict.

"We hope that every minute of the coming 24 hours will be used to reach an agreement, and if not [successful], the circle of violence will continue," Ahmad said.

He accused Israel of "maneuvering and stalling" as gaps on key issues continued to dog efforts to achieve a long-term deal between Israel and militant groups in the Gaza Strip, dominated by Hamas Islamists, which would allow reconstruction aid to flow in after five weeks of fighting.

Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk accused Israel of stalling and insisted in a post on his Twitter account that his group "will never cede any" demands for a comprehensive deal.

A senior Palestinian official in Gaza said sticking points to an agreement were Hamas's demands to build a seaport and an airport, which Israel wants to discuss only at a later stage.

Israel, which launched its offensive on July 8 after a surge in Hamas rocket fire across the border, has shown scant interest in making sweeping concessions, and has called for the disarming of militant groups in the enclave of 1.8 million people.

Hamas has said that laying down its weapons is not an option. The United Nations says 425,000 people in Gaza have been displaced by the conflict.