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 The Israeli military said Gaza militants breached the truce and
fired eight rockets at Israel and that in response, aircraft
targeted multiple "rocket launchers and terror sites" across the
enclave.
Hamas official Izzat Reshiq denied the Palestinians had breached the
truce, and denounced Israel's air strikes as "a violation of the
calm".
No casualties were reported in any of the incidents, and hostilities
ended by dawn.
A halt in more than a month of fighting, in which 1,945 Palestinians
and 67 Israelis have been killed, had been set to expire at midnight
on Wednesday. The violence is the deadliest since the two sides
fought a three-week war in the winter of 2008-9.
At the last minute, the Palestinians announced in Cairo that the
truce was extended by another five days for the sides to work out a
long-term ceasefire, mediated by Egypt.
"Israel has accepted the ceasefire extension," said an Israeli
official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Bridging the gaps between Israel and the Palestinians in order to
secure a permanent ceasefire has proven difficult.
Hamas and its allies want an end to the Israeli and Egyptian
blockade on Gaza. But Israel and Egypt harbor 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
Wednesday 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 talks on Sunday.
CEASEFIRE PROPOSALS
A Palestinian official with knowledge of negotiations in Cairo said
Egypt had presented a new proposal for a permanent truce.
Egyptian and Palestinian sources said Israel had tentatively agreed
to allow some supplies into Gaza and relax curbs on the cross-border
movement of people and goods, subject to certain conditions.
A Palestinian demand for a Gaza seaport and reconstruction of an
airport destroyed in previous conflicts with Israel has also been a
stumbling block, with Israel citing security reasons for opposing
their operation.
The sides have agreed to delay discussion of any agreement on the
ports for a month, a Palestinian official said.
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As part of the Egyptian blueprint, Israel was expected to expand
fishing limits it imposes on Gaza fishermen to 6 miles (10 km) from
the usual 3-mile offshore zone.
"It will increase gradually to no less than 12 miles in coordination
between the Palestinian Authority and Israel," the official said,
referring to a likely expanded role in Gaza for Western-backed
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, based in the occupied West
Bank.
In addition, the official said, the Egyptian plan calls for reducing
the size of a "no-go" area for Palestinians on the Gaza side of the
border from 300 meters (328 yards) to 100 meters so that local
farmers can recover plots lost during security crackdowns.
Israel and Hamas have not met face-to-face in Cairo: Israel regards
Hamas, which advocates its destruction, as a terrorist group.
Israel launched its military campaign on July 8 and declared its aim
was to quell cross-border rocket fire from Gaza and destroy tunnels
used by militants.
Most of the nearly 2,000 Palestinian dead have been civilians,
hospital officials in the small, densely populated enclave say.
The heavy civilian losses and the destruction of thousands of homes
in Gaza - where the United Nations said 425,000 of a population of
1.8 million have been displaced by the war - have stoked
international alarm.
Israel pulled ground forces out of Gaza last week after it said the
army had completed its main mission of destroying more than 30
tunnels dug by militants for cross-border ambushes. It now wants
guarantees Hamas will not use any reconstruction supplies sent into
the enclave to rebuild the tunnels.
(Additional reporting by Stephen Kalin and Lin Noueihed in Cairo;
Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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