Five-day Gaza truce off to shaky start

Israel and the Palestinians renewed a truce that had largely tempered a five-week-old war, but the deal got off to a shaky start on Aug. 14 with rockets from Gaza slamming into Israel and Israel retaliating with air strikes.

The Israeli military said Gaza militants breached the truce and fired eight rockets at Israel and that in response army forces targeted "terror sites" across the enclave. There were no casualties reported in any of the incidents.

Hamas denied involvement in firing the rockets and accused Israel of violating the truce, extended at the last minute by another five days for the sides to work out a long term ceasefire, mediated by Egypt.
 
Israel had no comment on the new truce deal announced in Cairo by the Palestinians. Hamas official Izzat Reshiq denied the Palestinians had breached the truce, and denounced Israel's air strikes as "a violation of the calm."

The halt in fighting which has killed more than 2,000 people had been set to expire at midnight on Aug. 13. Bridging the gaps between Israel and the Palestinians in order to secure a permanent ceasefire have proven difficult.

Hamas and its allies want an end to the Israeli and Egyptian blockade on Gaza. Israel and Egypt harbour deep security concerns about Hamas, the dominant Islamist group in the small, Mediterranean coastal enclave, complicating any deal on easing border restrictions.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told Al-Aqsa Hamas television on Aug. 13 that the group would insist on "lifting the Gaza blockade" and reducing movement restrictions on the territory's 1.8 million residents, as a prerequisite to a "permanent calm."

Members of the Palestinian delegation said they would return to Cairo on Saturday night to begin more...