New Gaza truce holding after shaky start

Israel and Gaza militants were holding their fire Thursday morning after a new truce got off to a shaky start, with night-time Palestinian rocket fire followed by Israeli air strikes. The Israeli army said that there had been no fighting for several hours, since Israeli air raids into Gaza finished around 3:00 am (0000 GMT). Palestinians had fired two rockets into southern Israel two hours earlier, after a five-day ceasefire extension was to have taken effect. An official at the Palestinian interior ministry reported four air strikes over open ground about 30 minutes after an existing 72-hour truce was extended at midnight for another five days. More than 1,950 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side have been killed since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive to destroy Hamas rockets and attack tunnels burrowing into the Jewish state, according to AFP.