GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A renewed truce between Israel and Hamas appeared to be holding on Thursday despite a shaky start, after both sides agreed to give Egyptian-brokered talks more time to try to end the Gaza war.

The Israeli military said Gaza militants breached the truce and fired eight rockets at Israel and that in response, aircraft targeted multiple "rocket launchers and terror sites" across the enclave.

Hamas official Izzat Reshiq denied the Palestinians had breached the truce, and denounced Israel's air strikes as "a violation of the calm".

No casualties were reported in any of the incidents, and hostilities ended by dawn.

A halt in more than a month of fighting, in which 1,945 Palestinians and 67 Israelis have been killed, had been set to expire at midnight on Wednesday. The violence is the deadliest since the two sides fought a three-week war in the winter of 2008-9.

View gallerySenior Hamas official and delegation leader Moussa …
Senior Hamas official and delegation leader Moussa Abu Marzouk (C) and other Palestinian negotiators …
At the last minute, the Palestinians announced in Cairo that the truce was extended by another five days for the sides to work out a long-term ceasefire, mediated by Egypt.

"Israel has accepted the ceasefire extension," said an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity.