It is a brief calm in the storm of deadly air strikes and rocket attacks between Israel and Hamas.<br /><br />A temporary ceasefire is underway, with both sides agreeing to a UN request to stop fighting for five hours on humanitarian grounds.<br /><br />Earlier, Israeli forces said they thwarted a bid by Palestinian militants to infiltrate a kibbutz, by means of an underground tunnel from Gaza. Several gunmen were killed.<br /><br />But it is the deaths of four young boys on a beach in Gaza that has stirred dismay and indignation internationally. Officials there say the youngsters from the same family – two aged 10 and the others 9 and 11 – were playing when they were killed by shelling from an Israeli gunboat.<br /><br />The Israeli military said the reported civilian casualties were unintended and “tragic” and that it was investigating what happened. <br /><br />Gaza officials say some 220 Palestinians have died in ten days of fighting. One Israeli has been killed.
