Israel has launched air strikes on "terrorism targets" in Gaza and recalled peace negotiators after three rockets were fired from the territory into Israel, as efforts to agree a permanent ceasefire appeared to unravel.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, ordered his army to attack targets in Gaza, and recalled negotiators from Cairo who were involved in indirect talks with Palestinians on a permanent ceasefire.
"In response to Hamas's violation of the truce, the prime minister and defence minister have ordered the IDF (Israeli army) to once more attack terror sites in the Gaza Strip," a government official said.
The AP and AFP news agencies, quoting Palestinian and Israeli sources, reported air strikes in the north of the Gaza Strip, although there were no further details.
Palestinian and Israeli negotiatiors had been trying to thrash out a permanent ceasefire to end the July-August war that has killed more than 2,000 people. Most of the dead were Gazan civilians.
A temporary truce was due to end at midnight local time (9pm GMT on Tuesday). That truce is now violated and negotiations appear to have ended.
A source reporting from West Jerusalem, said: "This is the first time that rockets have been fired since late Wednesday, and come in the hours approaching the latest deadline for the ceasefire negotiations.
"It is a tense moment, bearing in mind that Netanyahu had warned any fire would be met by, in his words, 'a very aggressive response'."
"Those rockets were fired from the Shujayea area of Gaza. No group has claimed responsibility.
"This is the last thing anyone who hoped for a ceasefire deal wanted."
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