'Three Die As Israel Fires Just Before Truce'

Palestinian Police have said three Gazan civilians were killed when Israeli tank shells landed on a house - minutes before a temporary truce got under way.

Fighting between the two sides continued right up to the start of the five-hour ceasefire which started at 10am local time (8am BST).

A further four people were seriously wounded in the attack on the southern Gazan town of Rafah, according to medics, while the Israel military said 15 rockets were fired into Israel this morning.

An Israeli cannon fires artillery shells into Gaza on Thursday morning

The truce came into force just hours after Israel said it has foiled an attack by 13 Palestinian gunmen who tunnelled in from Gaza.

A spokesman said the Hamas fighters were identified some 820ft (250 metres) inside Israel and were struck by aircraft.

He said at least one militant was killed and the remaining fighters appeared to have returned to Gaza through the tunnel which they had been digging for some time.

They were heading towards Sufa kibbutz, a small community about a mile away, when they were spotted. 

Gaza City (foreground) and the Israeli city of Ashkelon (background)

It is the second time Palestinian fighters have infiltrated Israel from Gaza. Last week four were killed as they attempted to enter from the sea.

It comes amid reports Israel and Hamas have been holding indirect talks in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Both sides agreed to halt fighting for five hours on humanitarian grounds on Thursday, while efforts continued to broker a longer-term truce.

It will allow for humanitarian aid to get through and for people to go out and shop for vital provisions.

A dozen gunmen sneaked into Israel from Gaza

Israel said it would stand by the agreement despite the infiltration - but warned the attack "could have had devastating consequences" as the Palestinian fighters were armed with "extensive weapons", including rocket-propelled grenades.

Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, who is in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, said: "It is one of the biggest fears in Israel that Hamas fighters can get into Israel and wreak havoc in the kibbutz that are along the border with Gaza.

"The whole of that border is watched very, very closely at all times, and so the Israelis here are saying that they expected there would be some type of spectacular attempt to attack Israeli citizens, but they were able to foil it."

Four children were killed in an Israeli strike on a Gaza beach on Wednesday

The temporary truce comes after a group of Palestinian children were killed on Wednesday when a shell landed on a beach they were playing on.

Gaza's health ministry described the attack as "cowardly", while the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) promised a full investigation and said the deaths appeared to have been a "tragic outcome" of a strike aimed at Hamas militants.

Some 233 people have been killed so far in the 10 days of cross-border fighting.

Tensions in the region have been inflamed following the kidnap and murder of three Israeli teenagers and the suspected revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager.

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