GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel and Hamas launched new attacks Sunday in the raging Gaza war, despite going back and forth over proposals for a temporary halt to nearly three weeks of fighting ahead of a major Muslim holiday.

The failure to reach even a brief humanitarian lull in the fighting illustrated the difficulties in securing a more permanent truce, as the sides remain far apart on their terms.

After initially rejecting an Israeli offer Saturday for a 24-hour truce, Hamas said Sunday it had agreed to hold fire ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. But as Israel’s Cabinet met to discuss the offer and the ongoing war, Israeli strikes could be heard in Gaza, and rockets rained down on southern Israel.

Each side blamed the other for scuttling the efforts.

Hamas said that “due to the lack of commitment” by Israel, it resumed its fire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas showed it could not be trusted after it violated other cease-fire efforts.

“Israel is not obliged and is not going to let a terrorist organization decide when it’s convenient to fire at our cities, at our people, and when it’s not,” Netanyahu said in satellite interviews from Israel carried on U.S. network Sunday news programs.

International diplomats had hoped a temporary lull could be expanded into a more sustainable truce to end the bloodshed, and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged the sides Sunday to accept a 24-hour break in fighting.

However, both sides were holding out for bigger gains in the Gaza war.

The 20-day war has killed more than 1,030 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Israel has lost 43 soldiers, as well as two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker killed by rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza, the Israeli military said.