The Guardian, Times, Financial Times, Sun, Daily Mirror, City AM and Metro all report the ongoing fighting in Gaza yesterday amid efforts to institute a humanitarian ceasefire. Following a 12 hour pause in the fighting on Saturday, Israel suggested extending the truce for a further 24 hours, rejected by Hamas, which promptly continued to fire rockets at Israel. Hamas later called for a humanitarian ceasefire itself, but once again continued launching rockets.

The Independent includes a feature on a Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza, which is providing refuge from the violence to around 2,000 people. In the Guardian, former-Prime Minister Gordon Brown in his capacity as a United Nations special envoy for global education, says that schools in Gaza and in other conflicts must not become part of the theatre of war.

The Telegraph and Guardian both report that Pope Francis yesterday pleaded for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The Independent i reports that US President Barack Obama telephoned Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday and called for an “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire. However, the Telegraph covers the failed efforts of US Secretary of State John Kerry to broker a truce over the weekend, after he appeared to sideline Egyptian efforts to come to an agreement and tabled a draft document which apparently ignored Israeli demands that rocket fire and tunnel attacks on Israel stop. The Telegraph emphasises that even the liberal-minded Israeli daily Haaretz rubbished Kerry’s efforts.

The Guardian and Financial Times both cover a series of media interviews conducted by Netanyahu yesterday on US television networks, during which he underscored Hamas’s rejection of numerous ceasefires. The Financial Times highlights comments which he made to CBS, saying that “economic and social relief” for Gaza could be achieved if the Gaza Strip is demilitarised.

The Times reports on a rally against the Gaza conflict which took place in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, attracting several thousand people. However, the article notes that the mainstream left-wing opposition Labour Party did not participate in the event, with party leader Isaac Herzog supportive of the military offensive.

In an editorial, the Times says “Gaza is not a war about the Palestinian people,” as “Hamas seems to believe that every dreadful picture of a grieving parent strengthens it.” It concludes though that ultimately there must be progress towards a two-state solution or else violence in Gaza will inevitably be repeated in the future.

The Daily Mail, Daily Express and the Sun all report that Jews in the UK are facing a backlash, sometimes violent as a result of the conflict in Gaza.

In other regional news, the Independent covers the destruction of Christian life in Iraq and Syria at the hands of Sunni Jihadist group ISIS, while the Guardian online reports that a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul was destroyed by ISIS.

In the Israeli media, the main headline is a phone conversation which took place yesterday between US President Obama and Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu, in which Obama called for an immediate Gaza ceasefire. It is the top story in Yediot Ahronot, Maariv, Haaretz and Israel Hayom. Several publications discuss this in the context of John Kerry’s failed weekend efforts to further a ceasefire. Yediot Ahronot’s Nahum Barnea says that although Kerry is a friend of Israel, he has repeatedly “proved to misapprehend the forces that motivate governments in the Middle East, their sensitivities and their ways of responding.” Walla News’ Amir Tibon criticises Kerry and the White House’s preference for “the Muslim Brotherhood axis over the moderate axis” which may be emerging in the region. Meanwhile, Israel Radio news says that Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas also protested Kerry’s efforts during a meeting yesterday with Saudi Arabia’s King Abduallah.

Maariv highlights an apparent foiled terror attack in the West Bank yesterday, when Border Police officers stopped a Palestinian man driving a car which was loaded with a pipe bomb, gas canisters and electric wires.

Israel Radio news this morning quotes an unnamed Israeli source who says that the IDF needs another few days to finish locating and destroying the tunnels constructed by Hamas to launch attacks on Israel, describing the military offensive as undergoing a current respite.