Gaza City (CNN) -- A temporary cease-fire between Hamas and Israel expired Thursday, followed quickly by new rocket attacks from Gaza and a resumption of Israeli military airstrikes.
Two Palestinians were injured in one of the Israeli airstrikes, which came after a five-hour lull requested by the United Nations for humanitarian reasons.
At least three mortar shells were fired from Gaza during the cease-fire, and the Israeli military said a soldier was injured by an explosion during an "operational activity" near southern Gaza. Troops responded with mortar fire, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Despite those incidents, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said both sides had "mostly respected" the cease-fire.
"The pause shows that a cessation of hostilities is possible if all the parties demonstrate the necessary will and put the interests of civilians, who have borne the brunt of this escalation, first," Ban said in a statement.
At least 230 Palestinians have been killed and close to 1,700 have been injured since Israel began its anti-Hamas military operation July 7, according to Palestinian health officials.
One Israeli death has been reported.
Cairo talks
In Cairo, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Al-Arabi held talks Thursday aimed at reaching a cease-fire agreement.
An Israeli delegation also attended, leaving after several hours, the state-run al-Ahram news agency reported.
"I expect that we will reach an agreement very soon; the efforts of a cease-fire is to stop the bloodshed, killing and destruction in Gaza," said Nabil Shaath, an Abbas adviser and member of the central committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
He said negotiators were focusing on stopping bloodshed above all else. He said they would later discuss Hamas demands, including opening Gaza border crossings and freeing prisoners whose exit from jail was negotiated in exchange for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
"These are all legitimate demands by Hamas, but the priority is for an immediate cease-fire," Shaath said.
Hamas leaders had rejected an earlier Egyptian cease-fire proposal, saying they had not been consulted on the deal and complaining that it did not address their broader demands.
Hamas officials had said Wednesday they would not participate in the Cairo talks, but PLO official Saeb Erakat -- who was in the Egyptian capital with Abbas -- said the Palestinian Authority leader had met with representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Erakat said negotiators are trying to extend the U.N.-sponsored temporary humanitarian cease-fire on a "rolling basis."
"While there is no plan at this point for a comprehensive cease-fire agreement ... we are trying to extend the current one by another six or 10 hours, or even several days if possible," he said.
Egypt is playing a large role in the talks despite its distrust of Hamas.
Like Israel, Egypt considers Hamas a terror organization because of the group's roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt's military-led government banned after the country's 2013 coup.
Temporary cease-fire
During Thursday's temporary cease-fire, Gaza banks opened for the first time in 10 days. Residents poured into the streets.
Red Cross officials visited hospitals and damaged houses to assess medical needs, and worked with local officials to fix water pipelines. Some work was also done to repair power lines, the United Nations said.
At least 10 to 15 trucks entered Gaza through the Karem Shalom border crossing once it opened at 1 p.m. (6 a.m. ET), according to Ra'ed Fatooh, the Palestinian official in charge of the crossing in Gaza.
Goods were limited to medical supplies and basic foodstuffs such as rice, sugar, oil, canned food, flour and other basic goods, he said.
"The trucks are being subjected to strict and difficult search by the Israeli security before entering the crossing," he said.
The search, he said, illustrated one of the chief complaints of Gaza residents -- fluctuating border controls that often stymie the flow of goods into the territory.
"We want the crossing to open in a normal fashion to go back to how it was before 2007 and to bring the required goods and products for Gaza for the people and residents to live in dignity as the rest of the world," Fatooh said.
Deaths on Gaza beach
Fallout continued Thursday from the deaths the day before of four cousins ages 9 to 11 who died in an Israeli military strike on a Gaza beach.
The results of a preliminary investigation suggests the deaths were the result of a "a tragic misidentification of the target," a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN on Thursday.
"We didn't want to kill those four boys. That was not our intention," Mark Regev said. "I'd even say the opposite is true. Had we known that that missile was aimed at four young men like that we would have not sent the missile."
A Hamas official called the killings a "war crime."
"Those children were not firing rockets, they were just playing," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zhuri told reporters Wednesday.
Regev, however, said a legitimate Hamas target was nearby, highlighting what he called a "complex combat environment" in crowded Gaza City and surrounding areas.
Israeli officials say militants often use mosques, schools and other crowded places to hide rockets and other weapons.
Indeed, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency said it had found 20 rockets hidden in a vacant school in Gaza, the first time the agency had made such a discovery.
The group didn't say who placed the rockets there but condemned the act as a "flagrant violation" of rules meant to keep U.N. aid workers safe.
For the hundreds of people gathered for the boys' funeral Wednesday, however, the legal and ethical arguments made little difference.
"I felt as if the world had come to an end when I heard the news," said Ramiz Bakr, the father of one of the boys. "I wish I had died before hearing he was dead."
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