Israel will observe a "humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza, after nine days of deadly rocket and missile exchanges with militants, according to a senior Israeli army officer.
Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai told the BBC the truce would be in force from 10am to 3pm local time on Thursday.
A picture taken from the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli army vehicle on patrol. Photo: AFP
Palestinian officials said Israeli raids had killed at least 213 Gazans since the start of the violence last week. Hamas militants have fired more than 1,200 rockets into Israel.
Four boys on a beach in Gaza were reported to have been the victims of the latest strikes.
It is understood that the children were all members of the same extended family and were playing on the seafront outside a hotel used by foreign journalists.
Israel had its first fatality on Tuesday, when a man was killed by a mortar shell near the northern border with Gaza.
A relative of the four Palestinian boys at the morgue in Gaza City. Photo: AFP
Brigadier General Mordechai told the BBC the civilians in Gaza could take the five hours of the ceasefire to stock up on supplies and goods.
The ceasefire was requested by the United Nations and other international organisations, he added.
Israel launched its Operation Protective Edge on 8 July. Its stated objective was to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, but the UN has said most of those killed in Gaza have been civilians.
In recent days Israeli officials have urged the evacuation of several districts in the Gaza Strip where more than 100,000 people live, as its strikes intensified.
