The Israeli army has said the withdrawal to the Israel-Gaza border of its troops today following a particularly deadly incursion that left 30 Palestinians dead over three days was only temporary and did not mean its month-long offensive on the territory was over.
The latest Gaza fighting came as the world's attention stayed fixed on fighting further north, where Israel is waging war with Lebanon-based Hizbullah guerrillas.
An end to the violence in Gaza does not appear to be in sight, moreover, with Palestinian officials saying today that negotiations for the release of prisoners had stalled.
Palestinian officials said they had not received a response from Israel to their offer for the release of 19-year-old Israeli Cpl Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas-linked militants in a cross-border raid on June 25.
Hamas has called for Israel's guarantees that it would free women, children and long-serving Palestinian prisoners if Shalit is released.
Dr Salah Bardawil, a senior Hamas official, said Israel's refusal to guarantee that it would release any Palestinian prisoners if Shalit were freed created the stalemate.
Bardawil also denied reports that Hamas and Hezbollah were co-operating in negotiations for the release of prisoners.
He noted, however, that he would support such an effort "if it is in the interests of both Lebanese and Palestinians." Israel's incursion into Gaza began after militants killed two soldiers and captured Shalit, who remains in an unknown location in the custody of the Palestinian militant groups.
Israeli troops have killed 159 Palestinians since they started attacking the Gaza Strip to try to recover Shalit and stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets into Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in Algeria, said the situation in the Palestinian areas and Lebanon was only likely to get worse after world leaders failed to agree on an immediate cease-fire at a summit in Rome on Wednesday.
"The situation will worsen and the consequences will be very heavy, not only for the region but probably for the entire world," he told Algeria's official APS news agency.
Israeli aircraft hit a metal workshop in the city of Khan Younis this morning that the military said was a weapons storehouse. The strike wounded nine people, including two children, hospital officials said.