The death toll in Gaza rose above 2,000 on Monday, some seven weeks after Israel and Hamas embarked upon a bloody confrontation which has not yet formally ended.

Both sides are currently observing a five-day truce which is due to end at 2100 GMT as negotiators work to secure a permanent end to hostilities.

The Israeli army said Monday it had destroyed the homes of two of three Palestinians suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June.

Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach disappeared from a hitchhiking stop in the southern West Bank on June 12 and their bodies were found June 30, with Israel blaming Hamas militants.

International donors will meet in Cairo to pledge funds for the reconstruction of Gaza as soon as a lasting ceasefire is reached between Israel and the Palestinians, Norway announced Monday.

The funds raised under the aegis of Egypt and Norway will be released to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, said Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende, whose country heads the international coordination committee for aid to the Palestinians.

Israel warned Sunday it would not countenance any long-term truce deal that did not answer its security needs as Gaza ceasefire talks were set to resume in Cairo.

Egyptian-brokered indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are taking place during a five-day lull in the fighting which is due to expire at midnight (2100 GMT) on Monday.

Feriel al-Zaaneen hasn't had a shower in more than a month. Like thousands of Palestinians, she doesn't have enough water to wash, adding to the miseries of life in war-battered Gaza.

In searing summer heat, where temperatures can reach 34 degrees Celsius, (93 Fahrenheit), Feriel is one of more than 218,000 refugees sheltering in 87 U.N.-run schools from a conflict that has killed at least 1,980 Palestinians and 67 on the Israeli side since July 8.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are poised to resume indirect talks with Egyptian mediators on reaching a more permanent ceasefire before a current truce expires at midnight on Monday.

The Egyptian government persuaded both sides late Wednesday to adhere to a new five-day ceasefire, extending an earlier three-day agreement in order to allow more time to thrash out a longer-term truce.

Palestinian worshipers attended weekly prayers, relatively confident of their safety Friday as a fragile ceasefire held for a second day and tough talks loomed on a more lasting peace.

For the first time since fighting began between Israel and Hamas on July 8, residents in Gaza City were able to attend the main weekly Friday prayers without fear of being killed. At least 1,962 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side have died in the conflict.

Israel, dissent against the war in Gaza is bitterly quashed. The few who speak out complain of being harassed, intimidated or even sacked. The once mighty left has disappeared.

It has been Israel's deadliest conflict in years. More than 1,960 Palestinians were killed and 64 Israeli soldiers died fighting what some see as an un-winnable war.

First Israel's Iron Dome air defense system protected millions from rocket attacks. Now the state is assembling a "legal Iron Dome" to defend itself against potential allegations of war crimes in Gaza.

For Israel, the threat of another fight -- not on the battlefield but in the courts -- materialized on Monday with the appointment of a U.N. committee to investigate "all violations of international human rights and humanitarian law" in the occupied Palestinian territories since mid-June.

Israel secured supplies of ammunition from the Pentagon last month without the approval of the White House or the State Department, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.