U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry evoked the memory of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela Monday to press his push for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians.

As he issued a call to young African leaders to break decades of violence and guide the continent towards prosperity and stability, Kerry warned it was never easy to negotiate with warring factions.

When the doctors gently pulled the tiny newborn from her mother's womb in an emergency Caesarian section, the woman had already been dead for an hour.

Twenty-three-year-old Shayma al-Sheikh Qanan was eight months pregnant when an Israeli tank shell hit her home in the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah, reducing it to rubble.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon warned on Monday of the “very critical and delicate” situation in the South, but said concerned parties assured that the region would remain “calm.”

The situation in Lebanon, just like in the region, is “very delicate and critical,” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti expressed on Monday, adding that he was concerned about the firing of rockets towards Israel.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied in support of war-torn Gaza on Monday as they gathered to pray at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque at the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. 

Police put the number of worshipers at 45,000 people, with an Agence France Presse correspondent saying many were dressed in black t-shirts emblazoned with slogans reading "Gaza, supporting you is our Eid" and "We are all Gaza."

The United States and major EU nations called Monday for more pressure to get a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, the French presidency said, as a conflict that has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians rages on.

The leaders of the United States, Germany, France, Britain and Italy "agreed to redouble their efforts to obtain a ceasefire. Pressure must increase to get there," the French presidency said.

Thousands of people protested in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam on Sunday against what some labeled Israel's "genocide" in Gaza, media reported.

State broadcaster NOS said as many as 10,000 people took part in the demonstration against Israel's offensive in Gaza, with marchers waving posters reading: "Free Palestine" and "No Dutch support for Palestinian genocide."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is working for Israel and Hamas to agree to further halts in the Gaza bloodshed ahead of Egyptian-led peace talks, an official said Sunday.

Kerry returned to Washington early Sunday after a weeklong mission to the Middle East that failed to reach a permanent ceasefire to stop the 20-day conflict which has killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Palestinian civilians.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Sunday ruled out a role for Hizbullah in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza-based Palestinian groups, urging an end to the Israeli “aggressiveness” and “hegemony” in the region.

“If we can put an end to Israeli hegemony and to Israeli aggressiveness in this region, we will put an end to many violence in this region and if we cannot do that, violence will prevail,” Salam said in English in an interview on CNN.

One of two Palestinians who claimed to have been savagely beaten by a Jewish mob in east Jerusalem was still in intensive care in an Israeli hospital on Sunday, two days after the alleged attack.

Relatives of Amir Shweiki, 20, said on Sunday he was being treated at Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital after being attacked along with Samer Mahfouz, also 20, as they walked near the Jewish settlement neighborhood of Neve Yaakov on Friday evening.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday accused Hamas of violating a ceasefire that it had itself called and vowed that Israeli operations in Gaza would continue, as the death toll from 20 days of Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian strip rose to 1,031.

Hamas' belated acceptance of diplomatic calls for a temporary ceasefire was announced several hours after Israel resumed a devastating military assault on the enclave after a pause of more than 24 hours.