Hundreds of Palestinians poured onto the streets of Gaza City on Thursday to attend a Hamas victory rally, chanting support for resistance against Israel, an AFP reporter said.

Loudspeakers mounted by the roadside blared out Hamas victory songs as the crowd -- most of them men but with some children dressed in combat fatigues and carrying toy guns -- gathered in the square outside the parliament building.

Doctors and aid agencies are trying to capitalize on a truce in Gaza to evacuate more wounded Palestinians for life-saving medical treatment in east Jerusalem, Israel and Jordan.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the people of Gaza need greater hope for the future, as he urged the extension of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

The United Nations is ready to help rebuild Gaza but for the last time, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon warned Wednesday.

Ban opened a special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly with an appeal for a lasting peace as a 72-hour ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was holding for a second day.

For days bodies filled the morgues. Only since guns fell silent have volunteers come to dig graves in the sand in Rafah, Gaza's "town of martyrs", devastated by Israeli bombardment.

For three days the strategic southern town went through hell.

A delegation of Arab foreign ministers, including those of Egypt and Jordan, will visit Gaza "soon" in a show of support for Palestinians, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said Wednesday.

The ministers will also assess reconstruction needs in the battered enclave after a nearly month-long war between Israel and Hamas, Arabi said.

Israel indicated Wednesday it was prepared to extend a 72-hour ceasefire with Hamas unconditionally in the Gaza Strip as Egyptian mediators accelerated efforts to broker a longer-term truce.

Guns fell silent in the tiny Palestinian enclave on Tuesday morning, allowing millions of people on both sides to breathe a sigh of relief after the deaths of 1,875 Palestinians and 67 on the Israeli side.

London Mayor Boris Johnson indicated Wednesday that he would stand for election to the House of Commons next year, a move that could eventually position him as a successor to Prime Minister David Cameron.

Save the Children placed full-page adverts in British newspapers on Wednesday listing the names of 373 Palestinian children killed in Israel's offensive on Gaza, as part of the charity's campaign for a permanent ceasefire.

The United States said Tuesday that it expects to participate in Cairo talks between Israelis and Palestinians aimed at securing a lasting ceasefire in Gaza.