A five-hour humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas has begun in the Gaza Strip after nine days of fighting.

Correspondents say people are queuing outside banks and traffic is building up as they rush to get supplies.

Fighting continued until the truce came into effect at 10:00 local time (07:00 GMT).

Officials in Gaza say Israeli raids have left 227 Palestinians dead. Hamas rocket attacks have killed one Israeli.

Israel launched its military operation on 8 July with the stated objective of halting Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.

However, the United Nations says most of those killed in Gaza have been civilians.

Israel accuses Hamas of hiding its military infrastructure within the civilian population.

(BBC)