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Israel accepts 24 hour ceasefire request

The Israeli government has accepted a request by the UN to extend the truce agreed on Friday by another 24 hours, although Hamas earlier rejected an earlier move by Israel to extend the initial 12-hour ceasefire by four hours.

Hamas demanded a complete withdrawal by Israeli troops from the Gaza strip and continued to fire rockets into Israel, claiming that the country was using the truce to prepare more attacks.

"Any humanitarian calm that does not include the withdrawal of occupation soldiers from the Gaza Strip and enable the people to return to their houses and to evacuate the wounded is not acceptable," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

Israel warned that its military would act if the Palestinians breached the truce and said it would continue its operations against the tunnels used by Hamas.

A total of 1,033 Palestinians have now died in the most recent clashes, with the majority being civilians. 2 Israeli civilians and 40 members of the security forces also died in the violence.

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