A shaky truce appears to be mostly holding in Gaza, despite some continued incidents of violence Hamas and Israeli forces. A five-hour "humanitarian window" went into effect early on Friday, a ceasefire that was almost immediately broken when three mortars were fired into Israel just two hours in the break. Hamas did not claim responsibility and Israel did not immediately retaliate, so the truce has continued as planned, with Gazans taking the opportunity to gather supplies and repair damage.

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Israeli officials also told AFP that another ceasefire has been agreed to for Friday morning, but there has been no confirmation of an agreement from the Hamas side.

Despite the temporary lull in the shooting, the conflict shows every sign of continuing. Just hours before the UN-brokered temporary truce was set to begin, Israeli troops reportedly thwarted an operation by 13 armed Hamas infiltrators, who were said to have tunneled into Israel from Gaza. They were stopped just a mile short of a kibbutz in southern Israel where 45 families live.