Israeli soldiers may have pulled back for the first time in this operation, but both sides are vowing there will be no let up in the violence.
Meanwhile at least 296 Palestinian children and adolescents have been killed since Israel launched its offensive in the Gaza Strip against Hamas on July 8, the UN says.
"Children make up for 30 per cent of the civilian casualties," said the UN children's agency UNICEF, adding that the toll is based on deaths it's been able to verify, and it's likely to rise.
"The number of child casualties during the last 48 hours may rise as a number of incidents are pending verification," it said in a statement on Saturday.
A Palestinian child pulls a horse as displaced civilians flee the Shejaiya neighbourhood. (AFP/Getty Images)
UNICEF stressed that its figures are "cross-checked to the best extent possible in the current situation ... subject to change based on further verifications".
"Between 8 July and 2 August 2014 (up until 11:00), at least 296 Palestinian children were reported killed as a result of airstrikes and shelling by Israel aerial, naval and ground forces," it said.
A Palestinian girl sits and eats in the rubble of her destroyed home following an overnight Israeli strike on Gaza City.
The toll breaks down to 187 boys and 109 girls, with at least 203 of them under the age of 12.
More than 1650 Palestinians in the Gaza enclave have been killed since Israel launched Operation Protective Edge last month, aimed at halting militant rocket fire.
Most of those killed have been civilians, and more than 8900 have been wounded.
Displaced Palestinian boys look to the sky at the Abu Hussien United Nations school in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
Israel has itself lost 63 soldiers, while two civilians and a Thai worker have been killed inside the Jewish state.
It blames Hamas for the Gaza deaths, accusing the Islamist movement of using civilians as human shields.
