Gaza violence subsides, but tensions soar in Jerusalem

  

Images of the bloodletting in Gaza, which has claimed more than 1,800 Palestinian lives and 67 in Israel, have sent tensions soaring across the region and drawn sharp condemnation from around the world.

  

Violence also erupted in Jerusalem, with police saying they had foiled a "terror attack" after a Palestinian rammed an earthmover into a bus, killing one and wounding five before being shot dead himself. 

  

Shortly afterwards, a soldier was shot and badly wounded near a bus stop not far from the site of the earlier attack by a gunman who fled, with police combing the area to find him. 

  

On the ground in Gaza, Israeli troops, which had begun withdrawing from besieged enclave at the weekend, were observing a seven-hour humanitarian lull in most of the tiny coastal enclave which was due to end at 1400 GMT. 

  

The unilateral truce was announced as international outrage grew over an Israeli strike on Sunday next to a UN school that killed 10 people, among them refugees who had been seeking refugee from the violence.

  

It was the third such strike in 10 days. 

  

Hamas said it would not be observing the truce, with the Israeli army reporting 24 rockets fired by militants in the first four hours of the lull, 15 of which struck Israeli territory and another of which was shot down.

  

But the truce got off to a shaky start with an air strike levelling a house in a beachfront refugee camp in Gaza City, killing three people, among them a nine-year-old girl, the emergency services said. 

  

The strike cause the house to pancake, leaving a huge pile of rubble strewn with twisted metal rods and broken glass and only a very narrow gap for rescuers to get inside, some of whom were bloodying themselves in the effort, an AFP correspondent said. 

  

"Just after 10:00 am (0700 GMT), an F16 fired at the houses. There is no truce. How could there be a truce," raged Ayman Mahmud, who lives in the neighbourhood. 

  

"They are liars! They don't even respect their own commitments!"

    

- Paris slams Gaza 'slaughter' -

    

With UN figures indicating that most of the 1,851 people killed in Gaza so far were civilians, and truce efforts leading nowhere, the world has stepped up its demands for an end to the bloodshed. 

  

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, an increasingly vocal critic of the war, demanded the world impose a political solution to end "the slaughter of civilians" in Gaza. 

  

"How many more deaths will it take to stop what must be called the carnage in Gaza?" he said in a statement.

  

"Israel's right to security is total, but this right does not justify the killing of children and the slaughter of civilians."

  

His remarks came a day after the UN denounced a fresh strike on one of its schools which was sheltering 3,000 refugees as "a moral outrage and a criminal act" and the State Department said it was "appalled".

  

Israeli acknowledged targeting three militants near the school and said it was investigating the consequences of the strike. 

  

Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov has also added his voice to growing calls for an agreement to end the violence, the foreign ministry said on Monday.

  

In Cairo, a Palestinian delegation were meeting with US and Egyptian officials to hammer out a truce proposal, but Israel turned down an invitation to attend. 

  

Hamas accused Israel of attempting to scuttle the talks, accusing it of wanting to avoid blame for its "escalating massacres" in Gaza.

  

The Palestinians are demanding Israel withdraw all troops from Gaza, end its eight-year blockade of the enclave and open border crossings, a delegation official said. 

    

- Bloodshed in Jerusalem -

    

Meanwhile, tensions over the bloodshed in Gaza reached Jerusalem on Monday with one Israeli killed and five injured when a Palestinian rammed an earthmover into a Jerusalem bus, turning it over before the driver was shot dead by police.

  

Shortly afterwards, an Israeli soldier was shot and seriously wounded near a bus stop not far from the site of the earlier attack, with police combing the area for his attacker, who fled, police said. 

  

Police said the attack on the bus was a "terrorist attack," saying the driver was a Palestinian from annexed east Jerusalem. 

  

An crowd of angry Israelis gathered at the scene, chanting "Death to Arabs" and several dozen people could be seen attacking a nearby bus filled with Arab workers, an AFP correspondent said.