Israel extends truce for another 24 hours despite Hamas refusal to stop rocket attacks as Gaza ruins are laid bare

Israel has extended a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for another 24 hours, but Hamas, which dominates the coastal enclave, said that it would only accept the truce if Israeli troops left the territory.

Israeli ministers had signalled that a comprehensive deal to end the 20-day conflict with Hamas and its allies, in which at least 1,050 Gazans - mostly civilians - have been killed, and 42 soldiers and three civilians in Israel have died, was remote

At the request of the United Nations, the cabinet has approved a humanitarian hiatus until tomorrow at midnight local time (2100 GMT Sunday July 27,2014)

The positions of both Israel and Hamas regarding a long-lasting halt to hostilities have remained far apart.

Hamas wants an end to an Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza before agreeing to halt hostilities

 Israeli officials that said any ceasefire must allow the military to carry on hunting down the Hamas tunnel network that crisscrosses the Gaza border

France has Western Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim populations. Two banned pro-Gaza protests last weekend, in Paris and Sarcelles, to the north, degenerated into violence and attacks on synagogues. 

Thousands of activists were preparing to gather in other major cities around the world, including at the Israeli embassy in London, where police estimated at least 10,000 were due to march on Parliament.