Rocket Hits Israel, Gaza Truce on Brink of Collapse

A 72-hour truce between Israel and Hamas teetered on the brink of collapse Wednesday with a rocket hitting the Jewish state just hours before it expired at midnight.

Shortly before the rocket hit, an official told Agence France Presse Israel was willing to extend the lull by another three days as the Palestinians expressed hope they could reach a deal in indirect talks brokered by Egypt.

Israel police and the army said the rocket hit an open area near Gaza's northern border shortly after sirens rang out across the south.

But Hamas, Gaza's Islamist de facto rulers, said its militants were not responsible.

"Hamas denies firing any rockets towards the occupation this evening," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.

The attack jeopardized the hopes of millions who were banking on Egyptian mediators to clinch an agreement after days of frantic shuttle diplomacy between Israeli and Palestinian delegations.

Without agreement on an extension or a long-term truce, the two sides risk a resumption of the deadly fighting, which has killed more than 1,950 Palestinians and 67 on the Israeli side since July 8.

Earlier Wednesday, an ordnance blast killed five Palestinians and an Italian journalist in the northern town of Beit Lahiya as a Palestinian bomb disposal squad was trying to disable an Israeli missile.

The Associated Press confirmed that one of its cameramen and a freelance Palestinian translator were killed, identifying them as Simone Camilli, 35, from Italy, and Ali Shehda Abu Afash, 36.

Besides his work as a translator, Abu Afash also worked part-time as an administrative assistant in AFP's Gaza bureau. He leaves behind a wife and two girls, aged seven and two.

Camilli, who is survived by a wife and three-year-old daughter, had worked for The Associated Press since 2005.

Both men were killed as they covered the story of experts dismantling unexploded ordnance.

One of AP's Palestinian photographers, Hatem Moussa, was also badly wounded along with another four people, medics said.

The Gaza interior ministry said its top bomb disposal expert in the north had been killed, naming him as Taysir Lahum.

As the deadline drew closer, an official told AFP the Israeli team had agreed to extend the lull for another three days.

"Israel agreed to an Egyptian proposal to extend the truce by 72 hours," the Israeli official told AFP shortly after the negotiating team returned from Cairo.

"We agreed to extend the truce and continue the negotiations but (the Palestinians) are digging their heels in," he said.

"The way things stand now, it doesn't look like it's going to stay quiet."

Earlier, Palestinian delegation head Azzam al-Ahmed had said the negotiations were at "a very sensitive stage and we hope to reach an agreement" before midnight (2100 GMT).

As the night fell on three days of calm, an AFP photographer reported seeing dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers approaching the border with Gaza.

"We have already sacrified 64 men and it is possible we may have to sacrifice more," Israel's chief of staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz said at a military ceremony on Wednesday evening, his remarks broadcast on army radio.

"It is possible that the operation is not ended and is not completed," he said.

In Gaza City, a few cafes near the seafront were still open as Israeli drones whined overhead, still audible above the rattle of their generators.

As the clock ticked down, many expressed increasing anxiety that the bombing would resume after a similar truce collapsed in a firestorm of violence last Friday.

"We're all worried, it's natural," said Hussein Abu Haseera, sitting outside his air conditioning shop in Gaza City's Rimal neighborhood. "No one likes dying, do they?"

In Cairo, Egyptian mediators scrambled throughout the day to bridge the gaps between the two sides in the quest for a longer-term truce.

Mediators have proposed that talks on Palestinian demands for a seaport and an airport in Gaza be delayed until a month after a permanent ceasefire takes effect, according to an Egyptian proposal contained in documents seen by AFP.

Negotiations about handing over the remains of two dead Israeli soldiers in exchange for the release of prisoners in Israeli jails would also be postponed, according to the document.

A buffer zone along Gaza's border with Israel would be gradually reduced and guarded by Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas's security teams.

Hamas is understood to be demanding clear commitments over the airport and sea port and they also want Israel to end its eight-year blockade.

Israel has said it will facilitate Gaza's reconstruction only if the enclave is fully disarmed, a demand rejected by the Palestinians.

The document was vague on the blockade, saying the crossings would be opened according to agreements reached between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the U.N. Human Rights Council over a planned probe over alleged Israeli alleged war crimes, charging that it granted "legitimacy to murderous terror organisations like Hamas" by overlooking "massacres" committed elsewhere in the Middle East.