Israel and the Palestinian delegation in Cairo have agreed late Wednesday night to extend a ceasefire in Gaza after failing to reach a long term agreement.

Minutes before the previous 72-hour ceasefire was set to expire, Palestinian negotiators announced that they had agreed to extend the truce for another five days.

Head of the Palestinian team, Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed, told AFP, “We have agreed to give more time for the negotiations.”

“It will last five days,” he said, adding that more times was needed to resolve “some” disputes with Israel regarding a long-term truce.

Al-Ahmed said that the Palestinian delegation will return to Ramallah on Thursday to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hamas threatened that it would not agree to extend the ceasefire unless “real progress” was made in Cairo.

Despite the announcement of the ceasefire extension, terrorists in the Gaza Strip unleashed a barrage of rockets on southern Israel. Several rockets fell in open areas and one rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome over Netivot.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri denied that the terror group was behind the rocket fire.

In response to the rocket fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the IDF to retaliate against terror targets in the Strip. Israeli airstrikes were carried out overnight in northern Gaza and Gaza City after midnight.

Soon after the airstrikes, more rockets were fired at southern Israel. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused Israel of breaking the ceasefire and threatened that “Israel will suffer the consequences.”