A BRIEF lull in the fighting in Gaza ended in tragedy today when Israeli air strikes hit Shifa hospital and a nearby park, killing at least 10 people, including nine children.

The Israeli military immediately denied that its forces had been responsible for assault, claiming, as it had on previous attacks on the hospital, that rockets misfired by Palestinian fighters were to blame for the tragedy.

But Palestinian health official Ayman Sahabani and the Gaza police operations room insisted that separate air strikes had hit the park and the hospital.

The Israeli military said that it has carried out three air strikes on Gaza, targeting only Hamas rocket launchers and infrastructure.

The military command said that Israeli jets hit two rocket launchers and a rocket manufacturing facility in central and northern Gaza.

It claimed that the air strikes were in response to a Hamas rocket launched into Israel earlier in the morning.

The strikes broke a relative lull in the fighting at the start of the major Muslim holiday of Eid.

The almost 12-hour lull had raised international hopes of an end to the slaughter.

The United Nations called for an “immediate” ceasefire in the fighting that has already killed more than 1,040 Palestinians, 43 Israeli soldiers and three civilians on the Israeli side.

An Israeli military official said that the army was observing an “unlimited truce” but would still respond to rocket attacks.

“The IDF is free to attack after any fire, if there is any,” Israel’s chief military spokesman Brigadier General Motti Almoz told Israel Radio.

But hopes of that pledge being fulfilled faded fast as new reports of Israeli attacks and allegations of Hamas rocket attacks mounted.

The Israeli military alleged that at least 12 rockets had been fired out of Gaza at Israeli towns and reprisals were reported across the territory.

And Gaza residents reported Israeli shelling hitting the Jabaliya refugee camp north of Gaza City.

The Gaza Health Ministry said that two people, including a five-year-old boy, had been killed in one of the attacks when an air strike hit his family home.