Live blog: Gaza under attack

Palestinians have been fleeing their homes as Israel resumed airstrikes on Gaza with the expiry of three-day ceasefire on 8 August.

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said on Friday that Israel did not respond to any of its demands for a durable ceasefire, which prevented the extension of a 72-hour truce between Israel and Palestinian factions amid an ongoing Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip.

"Israel is responsible for all the consequence of not renewing the truce," Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas' spokesman, told Anadolu Agency.

Abu Zuhri accused Israel of "stalling" and "wasting time" during derailed indirect talks in Cairo, which kicked off earlier this week.

A senior Palestinian official said a team negotiating in Cairo for a ceasefire agreement with Israel is committed to reaching a deal, reported AFP.

"We told the Egyptians (mediators) we are sitting here to achieve a final agreement that restores the rights" of Palestinians, delegation head Azzam al-Ahmed told reporters.

The Egyptian foreign ministry said progress had been made before a 72-hour truce ended Friday morning with the resumption of hostilities.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group in the Gaza Strip had rejected a call for another 72-hour truce, accusing Israel of stalling.

"There had been an agreement on the vast majority of matters that are important to the Palestinian people, but some limited points remained undecided, a matter that should have led to an acceptance to renew the ceasefire," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The statement called for "an immediate return to a ceasefire."

Hamas says Israel did not agree to any Palestinian demand during the Cairo talks, reported the Anadolu Agency. 

40 Palestinians have been injured in clashes with Israeli troops in West Bank, medical sources reported to the Anadolu Agency. 

Head of the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) Shaddad Attili said on Tuesday that the Gaza Strip is suffering a severe shortage of clean drinking water, calling the water situation "disastrous" after heavy Israeli attacks on the network of water pipes.

Speaking to Anadolu news agency, Attili said that 70 percent of the water pipelines have been damaged and that the 1.8 million Gazans are surviving on only 30 percent of the Strip's capacity.

“The heart of the Earth beats in Gaza now. It bleeds, but it beats,” says Dr. Mads Gilbert.

The Norwegian emergency surgeon returned to his home city of Tromsø on 31 July, after spending several weeks treating the wounded from Israel's assault at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.

He went straight from the airport to give a spontaneous speech at a large solidarity demonstration for Gaza held at the same time.

Max Blumenthal tells Paul Jay that Moshe Feiglin's program is part of a growing incitement to genocide against Palestinians.

Sources close to talks in Egypt told the Palestinian Ma'an news agency Friday that an unofficial cessation to hostilities will be implemented until 8 p.m. as mediators attempt to reach an agreement between Palestinian and Israeli delegations.

Israel's rejection of Palestinian demands of creating a seaport and release of prisoners has derailed Egypt-hosted talks aimed at reaching a durable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, two Egyptian officials said.

"Over the last round of talks, Israel did not hold on to its condition of disarming the resistance as much as it held on to its refusal to build a seaport on the Gaza coast," an Egyptian official told Anadolu Agency on Friday.

He said Israel has also refused to release hundreds of prisoners arrested in the West Bank since June, during search operations for three Israeli settlers, who were later found dead near the southern city of Hebron.

"Israel has also refused to release the last batch of Palestinian prisoners, who have been detained before the signing of the Oslo Accords and who were scheduled to be released in June," another Egyptian official said.

Deadly hostilities engulfed Gaza once again where a 10-year-old boy was killed on Friday and Israeli warplanes struck targets in retaliation for dozens of Palestinian cross-border rocket attacks.

But Egypt, mediating indirect talks between Israelis and Palestinians, said negotiations were making progress despite the violence and called for an expired ceasefire to be extended.

The head of the Palestinian delegation in Cairo also said they were committed to achieving a truce, while Israel warned that it would not negotiate under fire.

Israel accused Hamas of breaching a 72-hour truce early Friday after militants fired two rockets.

Senior IDF source says Israeli Air Force has attacked more than 40 targets in Gaza since this morning, and stresed that residents of southern Israel can return to their homes despite resumed mortar and rocket fire, reported Haaretz Newspapers.

Reuters is reporting that Egyptian officials have said agreement was reached over most major issues, and that only "limited issues remained" unresolved in Gaza talks.