Palestinian death toll in Gaza offensive tops 1,000: official

GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestinian death toll in the 19-day conflict between Israel and Hamas militants has climbed to over 1,000, many of them civilians, Gaza's health ministry said on Saturday. Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said rescue workers had taken advantage of a 12-hour truce in the fighting and had retrieved more than 100 bodies buried in the rubble of shelled buildings around the Mediterranean enclave. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Editing by Crispian Balmer)