By Ofira Koopmans

TEL AVIV (DPA) — At least 23 Palestinians were killed before dawn Thursday on the 17th day of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip amid reports that both sides in the conflict might be inclined towards accepting a five-day humanitarian truce.

Six children and 10 members of one family were among those killed in airstrikes on the strip, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra said.

The Israeli military said its soldiers fought with several groups of militants as ground forces were searching for attack tunnels. So far, 31 tunnels leading from Gaza under the border into Israel have been exposed and nine of them blown up, it said. The tunnels are currently the main focus of Israel's ground offensive, begun one week ago. 

The London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper quoted a Hamas source as saying that the Islamist movement in control of Gaza was inclined to accept a Palestinian Authority proposal for a five-day humanitarian ceasefire, during which Hamas and Israel would try to indirectly negotiate terms for a longer-term, real truce. 

"The ball is now in Israel's court," the leading international Arabic paper quoted the source as saying.

An Israel Radio reporter said he was told by several members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's seven-minister security cabinet that they too were inclined to accept the deal. The members cautioned that it would take another 48 to 72 hours to see if such a deal would take shape.   

Qatar-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said in Doha late Wednesday that his movement would not accept a truce before Israel and Egypt lift the blockade of the coastal enclave.

But he did not rule out a temporary humanitarian truce.

Mashaal hailed as an achievement that dozens of flights had been cancelled to Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv because of a rocket fired from Gaza.

Israel pleaded with the United States and Europe to resume flights to the airport, insisting it was safe.

The US Federal Aviation Administration overnight announced it was lifting its restrictions on US flights into and out of Israel.

But the agency said it would continue to closely monitor "the very fluid situation around Ben Gurion Airport and will take additional actions, as necessary."

Israel welcomed the decision and said it was in contact with Europe to do the same.

Thousand of Israelis have been stranded abroad or were sent home from airports inside Israel despite having booked flights.

"Those who were trying to impose an air siege on Israel have failed," Transport Minister Israel Katz told Israel Radio in a direct nod at Mashaal. "Israel's skies are safe." 

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who held talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah Wednesday, reported some progress in efforts to broker a truce. He later headed back to Egypt, which has been leading the ceasefire efforts.

Hamas "will not accept any [ceasefire] proposal that does not lift the siege from our people" in Gaza, Mashaal said in Doha.

"We are the prey, not the predator," he said.

"Any humanitarian truce has to have a specific and real relief programme," he said, "We will be the most interested in that."

But he warned his movement would not be "tricked" into accepting a ceasefire under the guise of a humanitarian truce. It would insist on its terms, which also include a prisoners release, he said.

The Gaza death total, meanwhile, kept climbing, reaching 718 by Thursday morning, al-Qedra said. The number of injured has risen to 4,553. 

Twenty-nine Israeli soldiers have died during ground fighting. Two Israeli civilians and a foreign worker have been killed by missiles and mortars from Gaza. Scores have been injured.

The migrant worker killed was from Thailand. Its Foreign Affairs Ministry on Thursday advised other Thais employed within 20 kilometres of the Gaza Strip to immediately stop working and remain indoors.

Farm worker Narakorn Kitiyangkul was resting on his lunch break Wednesday in Ashkelon when mortar rounds fired from Gaza landed near him.

In Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council said it would dispatch a commission to investigate abuses allegedly committed by Israel after a resolution passed by Arab and developing countries. Western countries abstained or voted no.

"A number of incidents along with the high number of civilian deaths belies the claim that all necessary precautions are being taken to protect civilian lives," said Navi Pillay, the UN's top human rights official. "All these dead and maimed civilians should weigh heavily on all our consciences."

KABUL (DPA) — An Afghan court has sentenced to death a police officer for murdering German photographer Anja Niedringhaus, an official said Thursday.

The Kabul court found police officer Naqibullah guilty of murder and misuse of his position, for opening fire on international journalists in the eastern province of Khost in April, said Abdul Wahed Pathan, the deputy governor for the eastern province of Khost.

The two journalists working for the Associated Press were covering the first round of the country's presidential election.

Naqibullah may appeal Tuesday's verdict within 15 days to a second court and then to the Supreme Court, Pathan said.

"His lawyer claimed that Naqibullah is mentally ill, but the judges dismissed the claims," he said.

"His crime is evident and there is no reason he would be freed," Pathan said.

German photographer Anja Niedringhaus and Canadian reporter Kathy Gannon were travelling in their own vehicle in a convoy of election workers delivering ballots in Khost province on April 4, a day before the first round of the presidential election.

They were officially being protected by the Afghan security forces, but Naqibullah walked up to their vehicle and opened fire.

Niedringhaus was killed instantly and Gannon was injured.

AMSTERDAM (DPA) — Dutch and Australian military transport aircraft with 50 coffins on Wednesday left the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv for the Netherlands, transporting the first victims of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

Both planes will land at the Eindhoven air base at 4 pm, where the coffins are to be received by victims' relatives, representatives of the 10 countries that the passengers and crew came from, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima.

The Dutch government declared a day of national mourning Wednesday when flags will be flown at half-staff. A bugle will be sounded to mark the arrival of the military planes, and a minute's silence will be observed at 4 pm when they land.

Church bells will ring across the Netherlands in the five minutes before the aircraft land.

There were 193 Dutch citizens on the Boeing 777-200 bound for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 passengers and crew were killed when MH17 went down Thursday over eastern Ukraine after being hit by a surface-to-air missile, according to the United States.

In Kharkiv, government representatives from Ukraine, the Netherlands, Malaysia and Australia attended a ceremony. After speeches and a minute of silence, the wooden coffins were loaded onto the aircraft by Ukrainian soldiers.

Many Kharkiv residents gathered at the airport to pay their respects, some of them carrying white banners that read: "Kharkiv is sympathizing."

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Gorysman said earlier that international experts were continuing their examinations of the remaining bodies, which were expected to be completed by Friday.

But it still wasn't clear how many bodies had been taken from the crash site to Kharkiv. On Tuesday, Rutte said reports of the number of bodies transported there ranged from 196 to 251.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Wednesday he feared the bodies of some Australians would never be returned home, as he expressed serious concern over the "unprofessional" manner in which the recovery of remains from the crash site was being conducted.  

"Based on early inspection of the carriages in Kharkiv, we just don't know how many bodies we have," Abbott told reporters in Canberra.

"It's quite possible that many bodies are still out there in the open in the European summer, subject to interference and subject to the ravages of heat and animals," he said. "That is the predicament in which we find ourselves".

Pro-Russian separatists turned over the flight data and cockpit voice recorders Tuesday to Malaysian officials in rebel-held Donetsk. The rebels, who have been accused of downing the jet with a Russian missile, have yet to allow full access to the crash site so an investigation can begin, Malaysia said.

The Malaysians subsequently handed over the recorders to Dutch authorities. The Netherlands has taken the lead in the international investigation of the crash.

The Dutch Safety Board on Wednesday delivered the recorders to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch in Farnborough, southern England, British authorities confirmed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the Ukraine government, which has been fighting separatists since April in regions bordering Russia, to "observe the basic norms of decency" and implement a truce while investigators examine the crash site.

He said Russia would use its influence with the rebels to pave the way for a full inquiry into the crash.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of the European Union ordered a new round of sanctions against Russia to be drawn up by Thursday.

The package would be implemented if Russia does not offer "full and immediate cooperation" by using its influence with the rebels to ensure access to the site and by stopping cross-border arms traffic, the ministers said.

"This terrible incident happened in the first place because of Russia's support to the separatists in eastern Ukraine, because of the flow of heavy weapons from Russia into eastern Ukraine," British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said.

The EU has so far shied away from tough economic sanctions over fears of repercussions for its own economy. Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said those concerns were now secondary.

By Ahmad Pathoni

JAKARTA (DPA) — Losing Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday denied he withdrew from the election process and said he was preparing to challenge the results of the vote.

The electoral commission on Tuesday declared Prabowo's rival, reformist Jakarta governor Joko Widodo, the winner of the July 9 election with 53.1 per cent of the vote to Prabowo's 46.9 per cent.   

"Let us be clear, Prabowo never withdrew as a candidate. He only withdrew from the vote verification process," Prabowo's campaign spokesman Tantowi Yahya said. 

"Prabowo … has always been and remains committed to upholding the integrity of the electoral process, and we are in the process of preparing our challenge in the Constitutional Court," he said. 

In a surprise move earlier on Tuesday, Prabowo withdrew from the election process, citing "massive and systemic" election fraud.

"We reject the 2014 presidential election that was legally flawed, and therefore we withdraw from the ongoing process," Prabowo said. 

His lawyer Muhammad Mahendradatta told reporters afterwards that Prabowo would not challenge the election results in the Constitutional Court because he did not have legal standing anymore.

Mahendradatta said Wednesday that Prabowo had clarified his stance and that he had standing to challenge the result. 

Prabowo has two days to file his case to the court, which then will have one month to rule on the dispute.

Prabowo's brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo said his campaign was demanding an investigation into irregularities at 52,000 polling stations across the country which could cost him millions of votes. 

"We may still lose but that's the only way we can accept the results," he said, adding that Prabowo's team would not stop the legal fight until "we get satisfactory redress."

Prabowo had asked the election commission to stop the counting process until all allegations of fraud had been investigated, but the electoral commission ignored the demand. 

There were fears of clashes involving rival supporters if either candidate refused to accept defeat after an unusually heated campaign marked by mudslinging, nationalistic rhetoric and slander.

In his victory speech late Tuesday, Joko called for unity.

"With our humility, we call on all Indonesians to return to being a united nation," he said. "Politics is about joy, wisdom and freedom." 

Joko, 53, was a little-known local politician before he joined the race to become Jakarta governor in 2012 and is seen as representing a break from the country's autocratic past.

He has earned admiration for his hands-on leadership and ability to connect with ordinary people.

The 62-year-old Prabowo, who was once married to one of former president Suharto's daughters, has amassed a fortune as a businessman and is seen as representing the country's elite old guard.

He styles himself as a strongman leader but has been dogged by allegations of human rights abuses during his time in the military.