January 8, 2009 UN halts Gaza aid shipments, cites Israeli attacks Play video

(NECN/ABC) - Negotiations for a Gaza cease-fire are underway, but peace seems a long way off. Israel halted hostilities briefly for the second straight day to allow in humanitarian aid, but the United Nations called off its aid operation, citing Israeli attacks. Meanwhile to the north, an attack on Israel has ominous implications of a second front.

A volley of rockets launched from Lebanon hit the northern Israeli city of Nahariyah, injuring two people and setting the entire region on edge.

The operation in the south continued and so did another cease-fire. At noon, Israel announced another three-hour stop in the fighting to allow food in and the sick to be treated.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says in one home it found four children next to their dead mothers. The children had been there so long that they were too weak to stand on their own.

After an ambulance driver was shot today, nearly two dozen paramedics have been killed in Gaza in the last two weeks.

Israeli officials are once again discussing whether to expand the operation in Gaza, go deeper into the cities, or look for a way out.

ABC's Miguel Marquez reports from Jerusalem.