Israel appears to have breached its humanitarian ceasefire - just minutes after the truce began.

News agency AFP is reporting that an 8 year old girl has been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in Gaza City. 30 people were also injured in the attack.

The truce got underway at 8am Irish time, and was supposed to cover most of Gaza apart from the town of Rafah in the south.

Yesterday, the United Nations condemned a strike on one of its schools in Rafah, that killed 10 people.

But Israeli Defence Force spokesman Peter Lerner has defended the operation.