DHAKA: The UN Security Council has called for an “immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza.
An emergency session backed a statement calling for a truce over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr "and beyond".
Both the Palestinian and Israeli envoys to the UN criticised the statement, for different reasons.
Gaza had its quietest night in weeks after a weekend punctuated by brief truce initiatives offered by both Israel and Hamas.
More than 1,030 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 43 Israeli soldiers and two Israeli civilians have been killed. A Thai national in Israel has also died.
The Gaza health ministry on Sunday revised the number of Palestinian dead down by 30 after some relatives found missing family members.
Israel's military reported a new rocket attack on Monday morning, saying it had hit an open area in southern Israel. It fired back, in its first reported military action since late on Sunday evening.
Most Gazans would have welcomed the brief respite overnight, three weeks into the conflict, the BBC's Martin Patience reports from Gaza City.
But with so many deaths and so much destruction, there is little to celebrate at Eid in Gaza, our correspondent says.
The festival, which marks the end of Ramadan, starts at sunset and lasts for three days.
Durable' truce
The UN Security Council endorsed a statement from Rwanda, the current president of the council, calling for a "durable" truce based on an Egyptian initiative - under which a pause in hostilities would lead to substantive talks on the future of Gaza, including the opening of Gaza's border crossings.
The statement also emphasised that "civilian and humanitarian facilities, including those of the UN, must be respected and protected".
It further stressed the need for "immediate provision of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip".
The Palestinian representative at the UN, Riyad Mansour, said the statement did not go far enough and that a formal resolution was needed demanding that Israel withdraw its forces from Gaza.
BDST: 1422 HRS, JUL 28, 2014
